We're Damned After All
by MissIndecisive
Summary: Evelyn is a vampire hunter who has been taught her whole life that all vampires are evil, but when she falls for a vamp who defies this stereotype she begins to question everything she has ever learned.
1. Chapter 1

_Hey people, read, review, and enjoy!_

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I walked down the street briskly as I listened for sounds that would confirm danger. The atmosphere felt too strange, it was as if something was about to jump out at me. I closed my eyes and concentrated on feeling.

I shouldn't have been having so much trouble. I was a huntress and a powerful one at that. My family was renowned for having the fiercest vampire hunters in history, but I rarely ever lived up to those standards.

I turned my head quickly as I heard the noise, footsteps to quiet for a human to even barely notice. He turned up behind me. Logan. I had been hunting him for two weeks now and he kept escaping me.

Not this time, I thought as I looked at his eyes. Oops, bad move, I was entranced. Vampires had the luck of having eyes that could hypnotize anyone. Not that they really needed it, their looks were enough. They were gorgeous, there was something about the change from human to vampire that could make you look perfect, some always looked better than others of course, but you would be hard pressed to find an ugly vampire.

Logan moved in closer to me. I knew exactly what he was going to do of course, he was planning to bite me, either he would suck me dry and kill me, or he would allow me to drink some of his own blood and turn into a vampire like him. I don't know which fate would be worse. It was funny how the idea of living forever was as scary as the possibility of death. I realized both possibilities but I did not move.

I tried to take a deep breath, Logan was holding me now, I struggled to gain focus, and my control was coming back now. His lips were almost at my throat now, I tried to move and then before I knew it Logan was wrenched away from me and his hypnotic spell was completely broken.

"Ethan," I said noticing that my savior was also my best friend.

He didn't waste time talking instead he took out a knife and in one swift movement he plunged it into Logan's heart. Logan let out a pitiful scream and then his whole body disintegrated into dust.

"Evy," Ethan said using my childhood nickname, "why did you go after him?"

"I've been trying to get him for days," I explained, Ethan was overprotective. Ever since we were little he always took it upon himself to take care of me. He'd gotten me out of trouble a good few times too, so I couldn't really complain. Things always ended up going like this, I would be in some kind of big trouble, but somehow he would always be there. Ethan was great; I could talk to him about anything, except for recently since he decided he had a crush on me.

"Let's just go home," I said not in the mood to go into why I had lost control to a vampire again.

Ethan came and wrapped his arms around me to teleport back to my house. I instantly felt uncomfortable, we had done this hundreds of times before, but now whenever Ethan hugged me I could sense something different. A smoky mist surrounded us and we disappeared. Ten seconds later we reappeared at my house.

"You know he could have killed you Evy," Ethan chastised.

"I know Ethan, relax okay? I'm fine, it's late, and we have school tomorrow, I'll talk to you later okay?" My ego was bruised and it really was late. I decided to avoid my mom and my sisters and go straight to my room.

In my room I stared at myself in the mirror. My mahogany brown hair was all over the place, and my olive green eyes had a tired look to them. I had always been told that I was pretty, but I didn't know what attracted Ethan all of a sudden. The worst part though, was that everyone noticed his crush. I sighed and imagined trying to talk to him about it.

I eventually gave up trying to think up a scenario that wouldn't be awkward. No doubt, tomorrow my mom would be appalled at my lack of hunting skills and no one was going to be surprised that I had to Ethan save me again. I contemplated skipping school tomorrow, but then decided against it, Mom was going to be angry enough. I realized I would have to go downstairs to get my backpack to do my homework, and so still with the desire to remain unnoticed I used my power of invisibility to walk past everyone unnoticed.

That was of course the best part about being a hunter. The powers, all hunters could teleport and we could hear, see, and smell better than any human. We also were stronger, but we had to be to fight the vamps. Those abilities were all fun and whatnot but the most amazing part was our individual powers. I could become invisible, it was one of the most useful powers one could have, and yet despite my amazing advantage I could never compete with my older sisters.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning feeling surprisingly refreshed. Last night I had managed to successfully avoid my family and the questions and accusations that were (and probably still are) running through their heads. I knew Ethan had to have told my mom about last night. He never intended to get me in trouble, but the minute I did something really stupid, like going after a powerful vampire and getting hypnotized, he made sure to tell my mom or one of my older sisters so that they'd able to stop me the next time.

I groaned internally the instant I realized I had to go to school. I looked at the alarm clock next to my bed and saw that I had a half hour again before the alarm would go off. Instead of trying to go back to sleep like a normal person, I rolled off the bed and went to my closet to pick an outfit to wear to school. Yes, I am one of those very rare and special morning people.

After staring at my closet for two minutes, I gave up and decided that since I had no one to impress I would settle for a pair of old jeans and a plain black t-shirt. I brushed my teeth, took a shower, and pulled my hair back into a pony tail. After I decided that there was no way I would be able to stall any longer, I went downstairs to see my family.

I heard the hustle and bustle of everyone getting ready for the day' activities when I went down stairs.

"Evelyn? Are you finished getting ready for school?" I flinched as I heard my mother's voice calling me.

"Yes," I called back to her.

"Come in here for a minute, I want to talk to you," she ordered.

I walked into the kitchen reluctantly and saw my mother, Ava Sinclair, sitting at the table, sipping coffee, and flipping through the newspaper. Sitting next to her was my oldest sister, Cheryl. My mom was your traditional blond hair blue eyed beauty and my three older sisters looked just like her. I was the only one with my dad's brown hair and green eyes. When I stood next to the rest of my family, I didn't look like I belonged. Often times, I didn't feel like I belonged either.

"Evelyn, how could you let yourself be hypnotized by a vampire?" Mom asked in a stern voice.

Here it comes, I thought, these lectures were getting really old. I never had any sympathy for the kids in school who complained that their moms yelled at them because their grades were slipping because _my_ mom bothered me about not only my grades, but also my inability to fight vampires properly. I tried listened to my mom go through the same basic lecture she always gave about being careful and avoiding staring the vamps in the eyes, but for the most part I zoned out.

As usual, when she finished her standard five minute lecture she mentioned my dad. "Your father used to be reckless too you know?" she said making me feel guilty.

My father died three years ago. He was killed by a vampire name Lucas. Various hunters both weak and strong had taken a shot at hunting Lucas. All had failed and only few had survived the task. My mother herself had tried four times to avenge my father, but it never worked. Lucas was one of the nastiest and most evil vampires there was, killing him proved to be impossible.

Lucas had killed one of father's best friends. When my dad found out, he made a priority to hunt Lucas down. My father ended up with more than he had bargained for and Lucas won the fight.

My mother's description of my father as reckless was a little harsh, my dad was brave. He would risk anything and everything to get his prey. He used to be considered one of the greatest hunters in the world, and he was still remembered as such. It was too bad that none of his talent had rubbed off on me. I think it was because my older sisters got all of it; it really sucks to be the youngest sometimes.

"I'll be more careful next time," I promised my mom.

"Of course you will be," she said, "but just in case I'm revoking your right to hunt by yourself. From now on when you go to hunt I want you to be with one of your sisters or Ethan. Do you understand?"

"What?!" I exclaimed angrily. Hunters were only allowed to hunt by themselves when they turned sixteen. My sixteenth birthday had been two months ago, having my mom not let me go out by myself was embarrassing.

"Don't be difficult Evelyn, I have to make sure that nothing happens to you," my mom said calmly.

"It's not like they'd _want_ to go hunting with me," I said looking at Cheryl praying that she'd back me up. But of course she didn't.

"It's no problem, if you want I can go out with you tonight," she offered. As annoying as Cheryl's goody two shoes ways were, it was hard to be mad at her for it simply because she was really nice.

"You can't do this," I said to my mom.

She raised her eyebrows at me, but she didn't say anything. She didn't have to. Of course she could do that. Usually if a parent wanted to take away one of their children's hunting rights, they'd have to speak to one of the ten leaders, but when my father had died, Mom had taken his spot as a leader, so I had no one to appeal to.

My other two sisters, Olivia and Nicole, walked in the kitchen.

"Are you ready to go to school?" Nicole asked me. She was a senior and she always drove me to school. She was also the easiest to get along with out of all of my sisters.

Olivia on the other hand was the most difficult, we were always fighting. She was the second oldest. She walked in grabbed a breakfast bar and announced that she was leaving.

"Wait," my mom stopped her. She then proceeded to tell my sisters the news about my new hunting restrictions.

Olivia's brow furrowed, "I don't want to go hunting with _her_," she said, "I like to go with my friends."

My mom shot a disapproving glare at her, and then she turned to Nicole, "what about you Nicole? Will you go with your sister?"

"Yeah sure, whenever she wants, but why can't she go by herself? She _is_ sixteen," Nicole wondered.

"She was hypnotized by a vampire last night, I don't want to risk that happening again," my mom explained.

"But that could happen to anyone," Nicole fought for me.

"Yes, but it happens to _her_ very often. Once she brushes up on her skills, she'll get to go by herself again," Mom said with that end of subject look in her eye.

"Fine," I said curtly. I turned around and walked out of the room.

Nicole followed me as I walked outside. "Are you ready to go?" she asked.

I nodded and got in the car. For most of the ride I sat fuming. I was pissed off at my mom and at Ethan; this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't told her.

Nicole must have guessed my thoughts because she said, "Don't be too mad at Ethan, he was just worried about you."

I grunted in response and as soon as she pulled into the parking lot I got out of the car and headed straight for my locker.


	3. Chapter 3

When I reached my locker I yanked it open, took the books out of my bag, and started shoving them in. I wouldn't need them today because I didn't plan on going to class. There was no way I could endure seven hours of school while I was so upset. I was the queen of skipping school, like I said invisibility was one of the most useful powers you could have.

I slammed my locker shut and when I turned to leave I saw Ethan standing behind me. I stepped around him and headed for the door.

"Evy wait," he called.

I kept walking, but then stopped when I realized that he was following me. Chances were he wouldn't stop until he caught me.

"What do you want?" I asked rudely.

"Why are you mad at me?" he asked in a hurt voice.

I couldn't believe he didn't know. Men really were oblivious. "You told my mom about last night," I told him still rude.

"I was worried about you. Besides you were almost killed, I thought she should know," he said.

"Do you know what she did?" I asked. "She won't let me hunt by myself anymore; she thinks it's too dangerous for me. She thinks I can't take care of myself. So now, thanks to you, if I want to go hunting I have to have a chaperone like a little kid," I ranted.

"Well maybe if you stay out of trouble she'll change her mind soon," he said.

I glared at him. I turned to leave, but he caught my arm.

"Okay, okay I'm sorry. I didn't want you to get in trouble. I won't do it again alright?" He was practically begging for forgiveness.

I sighed, I was about to give in. I couldn't help it; the guy was my best friend. I was quiet for a minute and then said, "Fine okay, I'm not mad anymore."

He grinned and his blue eyes lit up. "If you want you can go hunting with me tonight," he offered.

I hesitated, he looked _way_ too hopeful. I wondered if this was his idea of some kind of date. To normal people hunting vampires may not seem very romantic, and it really isn't, however, hunters relish in their work. It was a rush of adrenaline and the feeling of doing something good that made it so enjoyable, we practically lived for it, so while Ethan's offer may not be your typical movies and dinner type of date, it would still mean _something_ to him.

"Maybe tomorrow," I said attempting to bid for time, "Cheryl and Nicole both already said they'd take me and after last night I don't really feel like hunting anyways."

The disappointment on his face almost made me feel bad enough to reconsider. I then decided better against it and turned still fully intending to leave the campus. He caught my arm again.

"Where are you going?" he asked, his eyes strayed from my empty backpack to the front door where I was heading. "Are you cutting class again?"

"What are you going to tell on me?" I snapped.

He flinched, "no but you already weren't here twice last week."

I sighed, I didn't skip school often, last week I had missed Thursday and Friday to go hunting, but usually I had perfect attendance. You would think that protecting humanity from evil vampires would be a good enough reason for my mom to let me slide when it came to school, but no, I had to have top grades, anything lower than a B and I was screwed.

"Okay fine, I'll stay," I agreed.

A look of relief crossed Ethan's face and I turned back to my locker to get my books. Class would be starting in about five minutes. Ethan walked with me and then he walked me to my first hour class.

I took my usual seat at the back, and contemplated the idea of sleeping through this class. I wasn't tired, but history was the most boring class on the face of the planet.

"Hi," Anna, a friend, of mine said when she walked in the room.

"Hey," I answered. We talked until the teacher started the class.

My friends at school were strictly school friends. I didn't go to the movies with them, I didn't call them on the weekends, and the only time I made much effort to talk to them outside of class was occasionally during lunch, usually when Ethan wasn't there. This was because it was hard to pretend to care about things like _American Idol_ when you had to worry about not getting killed by vampires daily.

The first three classes of the day went by as normal as anyone could expect. Teachers lectured, kids slept, and the natural order of school life stayed in harmony. At least, it did until lunch came.

I was heading to meet Ethan at our usual table when I noticed him. Perfect features, square jaw, short, untidy copper brown hair, and the nicest biggest ocean blue eyes I have ever seen in my life. _Vampire_.

My senses were whirring, I could feel it; instinct was telling me to lunge at him while common sense was telling me to ignore him. My heart started beating, something felt wrong; he was _way _too powerful.

Another one of the reasons hunters are so well equipped to fight vampires is that we have a sixth sense that allows us to sense vampires. Not only that but we can also sense exactly how powerful a particular vampire is, and this one that I was concentrating on was _a lot _more powerful than any other vamp that I had ever come across.

The vamp sensed me as well because his whole body tensed and he looked up from the food he was playing with. His eyes did a quick once over and then he relaxed, most likely deciding that I wasn't threatening enough for him, and as if that wasn't insulting enough, he also looked me dead in the eye and smirked. He didn't hypnotize me; that took way too much concentration, his lips just turned up as if he was fighting back a grin and he returned his attention to his food.

"Evelyn," Ethan was standing behind me. He instantly noticed the vampire and frowned. "Come on," he said.

I had no desire to stay behind. I followed Ethan outside, once there we both looked at each other. I decided to speak first, "when have you ever heard of a vampire that goes to school?"

"Never," he answered frowning. "I don't get it, there's no reason for him to come here."

"Actually," I contradicted him, "there's a perfect reason. Imagine how easy it would be for a good-looking vampire to find teenage girls to feed on in a high school."

"You think he's good looking?" Ethan's voice was hard.

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean."

I actually _did_ think he was good-looking. All vampires were good looking, I could never understand why hunters downplayed their looks, it was obvious that they were an attractive race. I agreed that they were disgusting and evil parasitical creatures, but I refused to lie to myself and say that they weren't attractive.

It wasn't Ethan's question that bothered me, it was the way he had asked it. He had that jealous boyfriend sort of tone. I sighed internally as I realized I was really going to have to talk to him, because this crush thing was only bringing us further and further apart.

I decided to call my mom. Now imagine if you called your mother and told her that the new student at your school was a vampire and she was one hundred percent sure you were telling the truth, she would make sure that you got out of there right? That's what most moms would do, but my mom? She told me to keep an eye on him and report details of his actions to her when I got home; she also told me that I should start bringing a knife to school "to protect myself" as she put it. Did she think to consider that I would get expelled if I got caught stalking a student or carrying a knife? No, of course not, hunters did not make the best parents, they taught their kids useful lessons for being hunters, everything else was just considered unnecessary, however since those lessons included not getting caught by humans I guess it isn't really that destructive to the kids. I knew exactly how to avoid getting caught keeping tabs on the vamp, and how to not be seen with a knife, yet I have no clue how to get a boyfriend, sad isn't it?

Ethan and I hung out for the rest of lunch and then we headed to fourth period. It was the one class we had together. We both stopped dead when we entered the classroom, sitting in the seat right next to mine was none other than our new vampire friend. The bell rang.

"Please take your seats," Mrs. Firn said to us.


	4. Chapter 4

_Thankyou to everyone who reviewed, I always love to know what people think of my writing, I'm really glad that you all like the story. Enjoy!_

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I looked from Mrs. Firn to Ethan and then walked to my seat. I was instantly uncomfortable, and very aware of both Ethan and the vamp staring at me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, I would have felt better if Ethan was sitting closer, but he sat on the other side of the room. His last name was Bentley and mine was Sinclair, why teachers felt the need to seat us alphabetically I would never know.

"Okay we're continuing with conics today," Mrs. Firn said to the class. She waited as everyone groaned in unison and then announced, "But first, we have a new student in class today." She turned to the vamp and said, "Anthony if you need help with anything you can feel free to come after school when I do tutoring, or you can ask Evelyn, she's very good."

"Okay thanks," he said to her and then he turned to me and smiled. The worst part about his smile was that it wasn't threatening, it wasn't arrogant, it wasn't even condescending. It was friendly?

I glared at him. His smile grew wider, okay _now_ it was arrogant. He stared me down and held my gaze. I realized that he was trying to hypnotize me; no way in hell was I going to let two vampires hypnotize me in less than forty-eight hours. This time I kept my focus, humans were hopelessly defenseless against vampires, but hunters could protect themselves from most of the vamps' tricks. I put my energy into keeping control of my mind, adamantly refusing to lose this staring contest.

He looked away first, and I turned to stare at the board satisfied that I had kept control. I honestly did try to listen to Mrs. Firn go on about ellipses, but it was very hard to concentrate on finding the foci when I was very aware of the demonic killer seated next to me.

I decided to ignore the lecture and just figure out the work later, math was my best subject, I had the highest grade in the class, unlike in English, where I was failing miserably, but that's a whole other story. I spent the first half of the class concentrating on Anthony, I wasn't so conspicuous as to stare him down; subtlety is a skill mastered by all hunters, so I was able to keep track of him, not that this was an interesting task. I mean in class what more can you do than just sit there and doodle?

After the first half of the class, Mrs. Firn finished teaching the lesson and she told us we should start on our homework. So naturally, everyone started talking, listening to their ipods, texting, and every other activity imaginable that didn't include homework.

"When are you going to go out with Ethan?" I looked up completely surprised by the question. My friend Caitlyn was looking at me with a curious expression on her face.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"He keeps looking over here. Besides, how can you not know what I'm talking about? He's had a crush on you for how long now?" her voice was teasing.

I looked across the room and saw that Ethan _was_ in fact staring over at this general vicinity, but it wasn't me he was looking at (for once, thank god), it was Anthony. He was doing the same thing I'd been doing, keeping an eye on the vamp, but since he was across the room he couldn't be as inconspicuous about it.

Anthony, who was the only one in the class who seemed to actually doing trigonometry, was obviously listening to our conversation. He looked over and caught Ethan glaring at him, but instead of rising to the bait and glaring back he raised his hand.

Mrs. Firn looked up and answered, "Yes?"

"I don't understand number six," he told her.

Mrs. Firn, already in the process of helping another student asked, "Evelyn? Will you help Anthony please?"

"Sure," I answered, seething inside, this was _not_ my day.

Ethan's glare grew more pronounced, and this time Anthony smirked in response. He scooted his desk over closer to mine and asked, "So do you get number six? I keep trying to get it but it doesn't match the answer in the back of the book."

I glared at him, glanced at his work, and said through gritted teeth, "you have to subtract "A" squared and "B" squared."

He smiled his friendly smile at me and his arrogant one at Ethan and said, "Thanks."

He made no move to move his desk back over. I stared at him expectantly.

"So you're Evelyn right?" he asked conversationally.

I would have loved to make some witty, intelligent remark, but instead I just stared at him stupidly. Was a vampire seriously trying to be my new best friend? He leaned over to look at the blank page in my spiral, moving into an uncomfortably close proximity towards me.

"Didn't take any notes huh? Can't say I don't blame you, it was _really_ boring. Want to have a study session after school?"

"Can you move your desk back?" I asked rudely.

He laughed, unfortunately it wasn't maniacal, no it was soft and friendly. I would have preferred maniacal, just to have another reason to hate him.

The bell rang, thank god, and I hurried to stuff my things into my bag and sprint out of the room. Once outside I turned to realize that Ethan was right there next to me.

We started walking towards my next class. Ethan spoke first, "we have to do something about him."

"I know, we can worry about it after school," I answered.

I headed off to my next class, and my mood dampened considerably when I realized that my next class was English, and that was saying something considering how terribly my day had been going, the good thing though, was that when things get to be as bad as they could possibly get nothing worse can happen to you. I sighed as I took my literature book out of my locker. I _hated_ English with a passion. Writing was just not my cup of tea. As for reading the classics, let's just say that I was never able to fully appreciate whatever it was that Shakespeare and Mark Twain did for the world.

When I walked into class I almost laughed out loud at my stupid belief that nothing worse could happen today. Who do you think was seated in the desk behind mine? Anthony of course, when he saw me walk in he flashed me a grin, which grew wider as he saw that my seat was right in front of his.

I sat stiffly in my desk; one thing that every predator knows is that the next thing worse than being cornered by your enemy was having your enemy behind you. I tried to keep breathing normally and I did put honest effort into listening to what Ms. Carlly was saying, but I couldn't get rid of the feeling of unease.

"Okay we're starting a new book today called _Of Mice and Men_," Ms. Carlly announced.

I was almost about to groan, I hated _all_ assigned reading, but then I saw the size of the book, probably about a hundred pages give or take, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Anthony didn't say anything to me for the entire class period, which meant that the entire conversation in math had all been meant to irk Ethan. Of course, that was all it could have ever been, there was no way a vampire would be interested in befriending a hunter.

"So where did you move from?" I heard one girl, Michelle ask Anthony.

"Well for the past two years I lived in New York, but I've lived in a lot of different places, my family moves around a lot," he responded.

"Do you like Florida?" she continued, fluttering her eyelashes ridiculously.

"Too soon to tell," he answered, smiling a little.

I would bet big money that Michelle was swooning from the attention. Humans were always taken aback by vampires' beauty, it was a little pathetic; I wondered how long it would be before Anthony tried to drink her blood and whether or not I would be the one to have to save her.

I listened to what he was saying, and tried to figure out how much of it was true. Any little bit of info on your enemy is always good to have. He said he lived with his family, that wasn't uncommon; when most vampires get turned they go back and turn at least one member of their family, usually a sibling or a cousin, just to avoid loneliness. Others turn their friends. And some vampires that are older when they get turned go back and change their lovers or spouses. Not that this is very common, most people that get turned are in their teens or early twenties.

"So where do you live?" I heard another girl, Lisa, ask.

"Not too far from school," Anthony replied vaguely. I wasn't surprised; of course he wouldn't divulge the location of his crypt that he called home in front of a hunter.

The bell rang and again I rushed out of class, I always felt uneasy around the vamps and I wasn't used to being near any of them without weapons.

The rest of the day passed quickly and thankfully I didn't come across Anthony again. I walked to Nicole's car, and waited for her to arrive.

"Did you see the vamp?" those were the first words out of her mouth when she saw me.

"Yeah," I answered, "he's in two of my classes."

Her eyes narrowed. "What are we going to do? There can't be a vampire walking around the school, think about how many people he could hurt."

"I know, but he's a weird vamp," I told her. I explained about how he wasn't bothered by me or Ethan and how he had tried to hypnotize me that one time in math class. "Mom said that we should bring knives to school."

"That might be risky. If one person sees it…" Nicole worried.

"I know, but if the vamp tries anything we won't be able to kill him without knives."

A regular knife wouldn't kill a vampire; it wouldn't even pierce one's flesh. In order to kill a vampire the knife has to be coated in a poison that only hunters know how to make. It requires vampire blood mixed with hunter blood and some strange other mix of ingredients that some hunter centuries ago decided to mix together on a whim. The poison is lethal to vamps but doesn't do anything to hunters, no one's ever tried it on a human before, although chances are if someone did inject a human with the poison the result would be catastrophic.

Nicole took me home, and once we arrived I remembered that I was supposed to be angry with my mother, so I headed straight to my room with the full intention of staying there for the rest of the night.

My mom didn't try to come up to talk to me. Any information that she wanted about Anthony she probably got from Nicole. I wallowed in self pity, depressed that I wouldn't be able to hunt by myself. It wasn't that I was opposed to the idea of hunting with other people, I did it all the time, I was just opposed to being _forced_ to hunt with other people.

I lay on my bed thinking for a while and then realized that the only way my restriction was going to be lifted was by proving myself somehow. Killing Anthony would probably be a good way to do it. I entertained the idea of being the big hero and soon realized how unlikely that idea was. I was an _extremely_ powerful hunter, no one would ever argue with that statement, but I was notorious for making mistakes and getting in over my head. And, like I had sensed earlier, Anthony was powerful, he wouldn't be an easy kill. I was going to need to form a plan.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hello everyone! I had a case of writer's block while I was writing this one, and it took several tries to get it right. I'm not sure if this is my best work, but still I hope it's good. Please review, I really appreciate it, if you hate the story and feel that I am wasting my time writing, speak up, feedback is very important to me. Reviews motivate me to write. Other than that I hope you guys like this one!_

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I knew I needed a plan, but my brain wasn't really cooperating. I decided to sleep on it and worry tomorrow. At least it would be Saturday, that was always guaranteed to brighten any teenager's outlook on life.

I woke up the next morning and headed downstairs. My mom was home and she was staring at me curiously as I searched through the kitchen trying to find breakfast.

"You didn't go hunting last night?" she asked. I couldn't really blame her for being surprised, I _always_ hunted on Fridays. I honestly couldn't remember the last time I had been home on a Friday night.

"I didn't feel like it," I answered.

She frowned, "Evelyn, when I restricted your hunting privileges, it wasn't to stop you from hunting. And, I can't lift the restriction if you decide to boycott it."

"I'm not boycotting anything, I just felt like staying home last night. I'm going hunting tonight. I'll call Ethan to see if he can go with me okay?" I reassured her.

She pursed her lips and surveyed my face. I _think_ she might have been regretting my new restrictions on hunting, but I'm not entirely sure.

"I'm going to be with the Administratio all day if you need me, alright?" she told me.

Administratio is the Latin equivalent for government. The members of the Administratio were the ten hunters that made and enforced all the rules. Back when it was first formed they had unlimited power and did basically anything they wanted, but over the years they became a lot fairer.

Technically, they still have a lot of power over the rest of the hunters. _Way_ more than the American government has over its citizens. The Administratio is the group that decides the rules and punishments. They also decided who gets into their elite group and who gets out. They even used to be able to decide how many people were in the Administratio. Sometimes there were five members, other times there were fifteen. It was only about eighty years ago that everyone decided it should have ten members, five male, five female. Also, most of the time they're the only ones who vote, the only time the rest of the hunting population gets a say is when there's a tie.

The system seems a little harsh, but no governing system is perfect and ours works as well as anyone else's. The Administratio isn't a group of strict, stuck up, know it alls either, they can actually be really flexible, even though they do have _a lot_ of power.

After my mom left, Cheryl and Nicole both had things to do, so they would be gone all day. Olivia, the only late sleeper in the house, woke up at eleven and then she went to the mall with her friends leaving me with the house to myself.

I spent most of my day trying to figure out ways to get Anthony. I couldn't attack him in school, and while I didn't think he would do anything there either, I wasn't taking any chances. I would follow my mom's advice about taking a knife to school, and I would coat it in the strongest poison we had. My school wasn't a bad one, so the security there was pretty lax, we didn't have metal detectors, we didn't have to wear ID badges, and the number of security guards was fairly limited, if I brought a knife and left in it in my backpack no one would ever know.

I called Ethan and asked if he wanted to go hunting with me later that night. He agreed, which wasn't surprising. Later that night, we were in South Beach near a new club that seemed to be popular amongst the vampires. It might seem strange to humans that there were vampires living in Florida, "the sunshine state," but that's because only the stereotypes get burned by sunlight. Sunshine has no effect on vamps whatsoever, although, if they did get burned by the sun, it would make my job _so _much easier.

Since we have teleportation powers, we can hunt just about anywhere in the world that we want. One of the biggest perks to being a hunter is being able to go to wherever your heart pleases. I've been to New York, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Paris, and a ton of other places that people would kill to go to, for free. I would consider myself extremely lucky, if I hadn't been to all those places to catch evil, bloodsucking vampires.

"Did you hear that?" Ethan asked me.

"Yeah," I answered. "It sounded like bones breaking."

We ran to an empty back road to find a vamp standing over a girl. She was blond, a little chubby, and appeared to be drunk. A closer look told me her leg was broken.

"No wait don't do it." her words were slurred. "No I can't get pregnant, my parents will kill me."

She thought he was going to rape her. Some vamps just feed and then kill; they do it without caring about how painful it is, or how much their victims scream. Others, like this one, played with their food. They had sick, twisted minds, and tortured people before they drank. It actually wasn't uncommon for them to rape people either. Some are even worse, my dad once dealt with a vamp that used to skin his victims alive. Those are the truly evil vamps, not that all vamps aren't evil, some are just more so than others. The ones that aren't quite so twisted, pick a random victim, snap their neck, have a meal, and move on with their lives. Cold hearted, yes, but still better than torture.

Ethan ran and grabbed the girl up from the floor. His power was super speed, vamps have this one too, but I've never met one faster than Ethan. The vamp turned and spotted Ethan, he couldn't see me of course. I was invisible. The vamp's nostrils flared in fury, I walked up to him, glad that he was so focused on Ethan that he didn't hear me, and I kicked him. While I fought the vamp, Ethan ran with the girl back to a club, and he called an ambulance. The vamp kicked me in the stomach, hard. He was clutching my wrist so tightly it was going to leave a bruise.

Ethan was back. I shoved the vamp away from me, and Ethan grabbed him and held the knife ready to stab him in the heart, when I felt another vamp grab me from behind.

"Don't do it," the vamp holding me said to Ethan. His voice was gruff and sounded vaguely familiar. He looked at me and asked, "Evelyn don't you remember me?"

Ethan stared at the vamp with his fangs at my neck and I could tell he was trying to guess his chances of killing the one he was holding, and then saving me from the one holding me before he bit me. His chances weren't good.

When vampires bite humans, their fangs numb them so that it doesn't hurt. Hunters aren't spared the pain, if a vampire bit a hunter the pain would equal that of a paper cut, times a thousand.

I struggled against the vampire, but he was _strong_. As I struggled, I tried to figure out how he knew my name.

I saw the vamp that Ethan was holding trying to struggle too, but Ethan had him in an iron grip. "Let go of me," he hissed at Ethan. Ethan glared at him.

The one holding me chuckled. "Bet you're wondering I know your name, huh?" he asked. I didn't say anything. "Your father killed my cousin in Washington. Do you remember now?"

I did remember. It happened a few months before my father died. My dad had been doing some field training with me. This vamp's name was Edmund, when my dad killed his cousin he was pretty pissed.

"I was as happy as the next vampire when Lucas killed your old man. Hell, the whole vampiric community was happy when David Sinclair died. It was like an early Christmas. The only regret I had was that I couldn't get my revenge. Of course, I can get it now. I seem to remember you knocking me out of the way using that nice little invisibility trick so that I couldn't stop your dad, so that means you're just as much to blame as he is," Edmund decided.

"Look, just let her go and I'll let your friend go," Ethan offered. He was starting to struggle with the vamp he was holding down.

"I don't think so, I think I'll kill her and then move on to you," Edmund said.

Now I'm sure at this point you would wonder why I didn't just teleport away from him, but it doesn't work that way. When I teleport, I take everything that's touching me with me, so whether I stayed in the exact spot I was standing or I teleported 1500 miles away from here, neither option was going to get this guy off of me.

"Ethan, just kill him already," I said. "Don't worry about me."

I could see that he wasn't going to listen to me. He never listened to me. That vamp he was holding was putting up a more serious fight than before. At the risk of him getting hurt, I knew I was going to have to force him to kill the vamp. Doing so would require something that was sure to get me in trouble later, supposing I survived.

I tried one more time, "Ethan, kill him."

"Yeah, go ahead, and as soon as you do it I'll snap your girlfriend's pretty little neck," Edmund said cheerfully.

Ethan would tire out faster than that vamp he was holding. Vamps were immortal, they didn't need to sleep or to rest, the only thing they ever needed was blood. I needed to stop Ethan from bringing about his own death.

So what did I do? I teleported.

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_Don't you wish you knew where she went?_


	6. Chapter 6

_Hey guys! Thank you for the reviews, I got more for chapter 5 than any other chapter before, and I'm hoping to break that record. So if there's anything that you love or hate about this one, don't hesitate to tell me._

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I ended up two blocks away from Ethan and the other vamp. Edmund, still holding me, was only disoriented for a second. But I made the most of that second. I managed to elbow him in the solar plexus and pull away from his grasp. He lunged at me and I dodged him. I grasped the handle of my knife and reached up to stab him. And then, blackness. I recalled something, someone, smash me onto the floor, hard. My head made contact with concrete and after that I have no idea what happened.

I woke up groggy on a bed. I looked around, too out of it to register where I was, I couldn't even work up the energy to panic. I felt stiff and I had the worst migraine ever. My eyes were still heavy and it felt so good to collapse back onto the bed and relax, within seconds I fell back asleep.

I woke up again, this time to voices, all of them male. I tried to listen to what they were saying, but my brain wouldn't let me focus, and sleep was inviting me to lie back down on the bed…

"That was the rule, if you and your friend stayed with us you wouldn't hunt humans while you were here," I heard one of the voices say, it was gruff and stern.

"It wasn't me feeding, it was Patrick," I sat up at the sound of Edmund's voice. It was _so_ like a vamp to sell out his friend.

"We don't keep guests that hunt humans in our territory. The deal was either you stay and refrain from hunting, or you leave," the voice that said this sounded familiar. I tried focusing, but my brain didn't feel like cooperating with me.

I heard a cry from Edmund. At least, I hoped it was Edmund, and then my body gave out again and I lapsed back into sleep.

When I woke up again it was morning. This time I felt no extreme drowsiness. I was horrified at how out of it I'd been last night. I hadn't even thought about teleporting. I took a deep breath and surveyed my surroundings more thoroughly; I was in a normal bedroom, plain white walls, a full sized bed, and a painting of flowers on the wall. Things like this were always happening to me to give my mother a reason to ban me from hunting by myself.

Not only had I let myself be knocked out, I'd been out of it for an entire night. And I still had no clue where I was. It was embarrassing. Worse, I knew Ethan would be frantic looking for me; my mother on the other hand, would do just the opposite. To avoid trouble, the Administratio forbade us from searching for a missing hunter who was sixteen or older unless they were missing for forty-eight hours or more. As a matter of fact, if I told my mom that I would be gone to L.A. for a week on hunting business her response would probably be something along the lines of "don't forget to take enough poison for your knives." As I've said, hunters don't really make the best parents.

I contemplated my options, right now I could be anywhere in the world. I could either teleport back home now and save Ethan some worry or I could explore. As much as I would have rather done the latter, I chose to be smart and do the former.

I mustered up my energy and focused on teleporting home, except that it didn't work. I didn't panic and tried again. Nothing happened.

My powers must have been drained. When my body and mind were exhausted my powers reacted much the same way. I would need food and more rest to supply myself with enough energy to teleport.

I took a deep breath and walked out of the bedroom. I stepped out into an empty hallway. I probably looked like one of those girls in a horror movie, walking through the house oh so slowly hoping to not come across the killer. In the middle of the hallway to my left was a stair case. I tiptoed down and hoped that nothing would come out of nowhere and push me from behind. The staircase took me to the living room. I looked around and wondered if anyone was even home.

I didn't know the layout of the house and I had no idea where I should go. I would just have to hope that I didn't bump into anyone. I would need to defend myself if someone attacked me. Although, now that I thought about it, my odds of survival weren't all that great seeing as how my invisibility at the moment, was being just as lame as my teleportation. I would have to rely purely on my fighting skills. One or two vamps I'd probably be able to take down, three if was lucky, any more than that and I would be dead.

It would be better for me to go out the back door rather than the front so that I didn't draw any attention from the neighbors. I turned left and walked into another empty hallway, this house had the strangest design I'd ever seen. As if that wasn't bad enough, it was huge. I wouldn't be surprised if I got lost in here.

My shoes were making annoyingly loud noises against the floorboards. The hallway had several doors along it that I had no desire to look into. I turned right and ended up in the kitchen.

"Oh my god!" I gasped as I bumped into someone. That someone caught me so that I didn't fall onto my back and pulled me up. I looked in shock. "Anthony?"

"I see you've woken up. It's about time, we were getting worried. Want some breakfast?" he asked.

I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. He was still holding me. I pulled away and tried to decide what to do. All I ever had to do when it came to vampires was attack and kill. I followed that doctrine without hesitating for basically my entire life, strictly because I knew that if I didn't kill them, they would kill me. But now, here was one who was trying to be hospitable. That couldn't really be it. There had to some kind of trick involved here. I knew that I wouldn't be able to kill him; I didn't have my powers or a knife, and speaking of my knife, I had no idea where that disappeared to. That meant that Anthony had taken it, proof that this was some kind of trap. Even worse we were on his turf.

"What happened?" I asked carefully. I tried scanning the room, getting a feel of the setting. I noticed a door that led to outside, I could try to make a run for it, although chances were if Anthony wanted to stop me he probably would and could.

"We took care of Edmund," he said. "You don't need to worry about him anymore. And I understand your boyfriend was fighting with his friend Patrick, who I'm assuming is dead right now."

I realized that the voice I'd heard that sounded familiar had been Anthony's. "Wait we?" I asked carefully trying to keep the panic from my voice. If there were more vamps than him in the house right now I was screwed. "And Ethan isn't my boyfriend," I said haughtily. As childish and immature as I knew it was to feel the need to point that out, I couldn't resist.

Anthony smirked, "only in his dreams right?"

I glared at him and then glance at the door.

He followed my eyes. "We're not holding you hostage you know. You can feel free to leave whenever you want," he assured me.

I looked at him curiously and hesitantly moved closer to the door. Someone walked into the kitchen. It was another vamp. I tensed when I he looked at me.

"Oh, your hunter friend's awake? She staying for breakfast?" the vamp asked Anthony. He was tall, about 6'5" with short dirty blond hair and grey eyes. He looked a lot like Anthony with the same facial structure, square jaw, almond shaped eyes, and tanned skin tone.

"She's not my friend as I'm pretty sure she'd be happy to tell you," Anthony told the vamp, "and I think she was actually just about to leave." To me Anthony said, "This is my brother Eric. Eric this is Evelyn," he introduced.

"Hello, nice to meet you," Eric said extending his hand. He quickly retracted it when he saw the look on my face. "Little brother, you have the craziest friends," he told Anthony.

My hunter senses were going crazy. Vampires and hunters were natural enemies. Instinct dictated that I should be fighting these two right now. I realized that Eric was just as powerful as Anthony was. Vampires like this were not supposed to be dealt with by sixteen year old novices like me; these were for the best and most experienced hunters.

"Okay I'm just gonna leave now," Eric said, probably sensing the tension in the room. He walked out the back door.

Anthony just looked at me. "Okay I'll bite," I said. "Why did you save me?"

He looked at me as if trying to find the right words. "You wouldn't believe me," he said finally. "Most of my own kind doesn't believe me, so I don't see how a hunter could."

"I'm an open minded hunter," I said.

"Ha, yeah right. Are you really going to tell me your parents didn't engrave the idea that all vampires are evil cold blooded killers into your brain since you were little?" he sounded bitter.

I couldn't believe that he was saying things like that. "Only because all vampires _are_ evil cold blooded killers," I answered.

"Then you see, there's no way that you can be an open minded hunter," he said.

"What are you going to tell me that you've seen the error of your ways and so you've decided to be a good vampire? It's an oxymoron, there's no such thing as a good vampire," I said.

"Really?" his face hardened. "Well, I'm a vampire and I saved your life last night. I'm also a vampire who stopped your almost murderer from ever being able to get to you again. And, I'm a vampire who gave you a safe place to stay while you were out of it last night. So the only possible conclusion that you can make is that I must be evil right?"

I opened my mouth only to have nothing come out. I tried again, "this could be a trap," I said.

He raised one eyebrow. "I already told you that you can leave whenever you want," he said. "You know, for people who claim to be all about good and protecting mankind from evil bloodsuckers, you're all really stuck up."

I couldn't believe that I was letting him say all that stuff. But, I had no comeback. "You know, your race doesn't exactly give us any reason to let you all have a break."

"Whoever said we were all the same?" he asked.

I stayed quiet. I felt like an idiot. Not only had I failed to win a battle or muscle with a vampire last night, but now I was losing in a battle of wits.

"Evelyn, why don't you go home? I'm sure your boyfriend's worried about you," he said. He seemed to have lost the energy to argue with me.

"He's not my boyfriend," I growled. I probably shouldn't have insisted on saying it again, but hearing everyone say for months that Ethan and I would end up together was more than a little annoying.

Before either of us could say anything more, someone else walked into the room.

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_Mwahahahaha. Sorry, I just had to. But I'm sure you'd love to know who that someone is, am I right? You've probably noticed that I love evil cliffhangers, at least, I love writing them, when I read them they annoy me, so yeah, I'm a hypocrite. I would write more, but I can't because I have homework, so you can blame my teachers for this one. I plan on updating soon and next time I won't be quite so mean, I promise. Reviews would be nice._


	7. Chapter 7

_Hey everyone, I'm so happy. Eight reviews for chapter 6! Thanks for those reviews, I love that you guys love Anthony, he's amazing. Thank you to __PlaidPanda543 for not exacting revenge on me for my evil cliffhangers, and being nice enough to review anyways. So far this is my favorite chapter so I really hope you guys like it. And, I've decided to start making these chapters longer so as regretful as it is, it's going to take me longer to update :( if I keep them the same length as they are now, I'll end up with waaaaayyy too many chapters. As always review and enjoy!_

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I watched as a male figure entered the room. He was shorter than Anthony and had that blond haired, blue eyed, pretty boy look about him. He was vampire, I could sense it. Great, I thought, another one.

Like Eric, he spoke to Anthony first, "when did she wake up?"

"A little while ago, I think she wants to leave, but everyone keeps interrupting her dramatic exit," Anthony said while I glared at him. He then looked at me and said, "This is my other brother Mark."

"Hi there," Mark said smiling at me. "Okay she looks pissed, I'm not messing with a hunter so I'm leaving now," he said to Anthony.

He walked out of the room just like Eric. I stared at Anthony for a little while, unsure of what to say. Since we were natural enemies an apology seemed out of place, but he was right, he _did _save my life.

"Thanks," I said, "I owe you one."

He seemed surprised at my apology. "No problem."

I sighed. Well there went my plans to wow everyone with my awesome hunting skills by killing him. I wouldn't be able to kill him without feeling guilty, which was on my part very irresponsible. If I went around feeling sorry for vamps, I would end up turning out to be the hunted instead of a hunter.

Before I turned to leave I asked, "Where are my knives?"

He left the room and came back five seconds later, "Can you blame us for being worried that you'd attack us?" He asked this as he handed me both of them.

I looked at him, knowing my answer. Of course it made sense that they would want to disarm me, but still something was nagging my brain. So instead of doing the sensible thing and getting out of there, I allowed my curiosity to take over.

"Why would you be worried about that? You guys are powerful, any one of you could have taken me," I didn't like admitting it out loud, but it was true, they were strong.

"We're pacifists," he said.

I snorted. "Yeah right, pacifist vampires? I've never heard that one before."

This time when I ridiculed the idea of him being good, he didn't get upset. "I told you that you weren't open minded."

I rolled my eyes, "whatever, I'm leaving now."

"See you in school," he said.

I looked up, curious again. I knew I shouldn't ask, but I did anyways. "Why do you go to school?" I took a breath after blurting it out. My doing things like this was what made my mom feel the need to place restrictions on my hunting. I could have been out of there so long ago, but instead what was I doing? I was making small talk with a bloodsucker.

"I want to," Anthony answered. "When you have an eternity on Earth, sometimes you get bored."

"So you go to school to cure your need for excitement?" I asked incredulously. "Vampires are sick."

He laughed. "Human teenagers are amusing, and usually at least ten of the 180 days are interesting, and since I have unlimited time, it's usually worth it."

I looked at him, all of a sudden interested. Questions were going through my head at rapid speed. That was very stupid. I shouldn't have been interested in a vampire in any way other than to kill him. He looked back at me with a patient expression on his face. I kept staring at him, aware of how hot he was.

As soon as I thought that thought, I decided to leave. Sure it was fine to know that vamps had good looks, but actually being attracted to one? That was completely and entirely out of the question. I wasn't attracted to him though, I was just interested in him. Whatever, it didn't matter, no hunter would be able to see the difference.

"I should probably go," I told him.

He looked a little disappointed. Or maybe that was just my imagination. "Alright, how are you getting home? Can you teleport?" he asked.

I wondered if he was really concerned about me. "I'll figure it out," I said.

"I can give you a ride," he offered. "You're probably too worn out to teleport anyways," he figured.

"No it's okay, I'll be fine," I assured him. I then realized something, "um, exactly where am I?" I asked. I wouldn't be able to get home if I had no clue where I was to begin with.

He chuckled, "I thought you were just going to figure everything out," he mocked me.

I held my head up high, "fine, I will,"

He laughed at me again, "We live about three blocks away from school on 22nd Street," he told me.

Damn, I thought. That was about eight miles away from my house. It wasn't an impossible walk, especially for a hunter, but it was long, and in my present condition, starved for food and still aching everywhere, I wouldn't be all that much better than a human. I could probably hitch a ride. Or once I got far enough away from Anthony I could call Ethan or Nicole. Not that I was in the mood to face any hunters in my condition. I didn't even have a story straight. There was no way I was going to tell them I got knocked out by a vampire and required another one to save me.

"Okay thanks," I told Anthony.

I think he saw my distress. "Maybe you should eat something," he said. "Let me take you to breakfast. We'll go to a nice open restaurant with plenty of witnesses so that I can be sure you won't shank me, and then after that you'll probably feel good enough to teleport back home to stop your boyfriend from worrying."

"For the last freaking time," I hissed, "HE IS NOT MY-"

"Your boyfriend," he cut me off. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I just like messing with you. You're really cute when you get upset."

I stood there fuming, partly because of him and partly because the back of my mind was analyzing the "you're really cute" part of his words, but mostly it was because of him. "And why are you afraid that I would shank you? I thought we'd already established how powerful you are. Doesn't that mean I'm the one who should be scared about getting attacked?"

"Well, I was trying to help your ego, but it doesn't work it you don't play along," he answered, seemingly oblivious to my rage.

"Oh my god," I said fed up with him already, "I'm not going anywhere with you."

"What? Wait, no," he momentarily seemed to panic, this reaction made me feel better, at least I was getting to him. "We'll go and I'll behave, I promise."

I stood trying to make up my mind. Why was he so worried about me? "Fine," I said.

All the while a voice of reason in my head was screaming at me, what's wrong with you? I was never an extraordinarily reasonable person, so I chose to ignore it. That most likely meant that I was an extraordinarily stupid person, but what could I do? He was taking me to a public place, so I'd be safe. No worries, I would just eat and get out of there.

So thanks to my stupidity, about ten minutes later, Anthony and I were heading to his car. I looked at the BMW, "expensive car," I said.

"I like to indulge," Anthony answered, "get in."

I walked to the passenger seat and hesitated for a split second – what if someone saw me – before getting in. We both sat there in silence while he drove. I stared out the window at the palm trees passing by. I kept glancing at the clock. It was ten o' clock. Ethan was probably going crazy, and what was I doing? I was going out on a breakfast date with a vampire. No, it wasn't a date, but I still felt guilty.

We reached an IHOP and got out of the car. We got a table and sat down while the waitress ogled at Anthony, probably amazed at his looks. Not that this bothered me, like I said, we we're on a date.

We didn't talk until after we ordered our food.

"Are you always this quiet?" Anthony asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Why haven't you asked me the things that are really bugging you?" Anthony wondered.

"What are you talking about?" At the moment the only thing bugging me was how close he was sitting next to me.

"You want to know why I don't hunt humans. You're also curious about why I saved you. You're probably really disappointed, I shattered the notion that all vampires are evil and disgusting, so now your whole world is different," he said.

"Well that's a bit dramatic," was my response. I didn't care to tell him that he was right. My world wasn't exactly different, but I had a lot to think about. If it was possible for vampires to be good, then why was the majority so evil?

The waitress came back with our food. I stared down at my pancakes and eggs feeling ravenous. I took a huge bite not really caring to be ladylike.

Anthony stared down at his own food, and I wondered, did vampires like regular human food? I'd never really observed one in a civilized setting so I didn't really know.

It didn't seem to bother him as put forkfuls of bacon into his mouth.

"Do you like that?" I asked.

"It tastes the same as it did when I was human, but it doesn't have the same, what's the word? Appeal? Yeah, appeal, at least not when there's something else that my taste buds prefer much more," he answered honestly.

We finished our meal, and despite my protest Anthony paid for it.

"Need anything else?" he asked as I stood up.

I shook my head no. "I'm going to teleport home," I said and then hesitated before adding an awkward, "thanks."

He smiled at me, "no problem."

I walked to the bathroom, made sure it was empty and then teleported back to my room. Once there, the first person I called was Ethan.

"Evy?" he answered the phone sounding hopeful.

"Hey Ethan," I said.

"Thank god. Do you know how worried I was? I spent all night looking for you. Why did you teleport like that? You're really lucky he didn't kill you," Ethan went off.

"Relax okay, it's fine. After I teleported, the vamp and I had a cat and mouse sort of chase. It took most of the night, but he's dead now," the lie came out effortlessly. I didn't even feel all that bad about it which was not a very good thing. "I'll see you later Ethan."

"Okay bye Evy, I guess I'll talk to you in school tomorrow," he said as he hung up.

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_I was nice this time, no evil cliffhanger._


	8. Chapter 8

_Hey everyone! I got more reviews for last chapter than any before it! Hooray! Thankyou all so much for those. I really wasn't planning to update till next weekend, but I felt like I had to, especially after reading all of the "update soon" reviews. I hope you guys enjoy this!_

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As I expected, my mother asked few questions about my being gone for an entire night. She wasn't exactly happy that I'd ditched Ethan, but she wasn't angry enough to punish me or anything like that. She left a few warnings about being safe and taking care of myself and then went about her business.

I ended up spending the rest of Sunday in the house. Ethan didn't call, I was a little worried that he was angry with me for leaving like that last night, but I didn't dwell on it for very long. I was going to see him in school tomorrow, so I'd be able to give him a proper apology then. Besides, he couldn't really be that mad. If I'd stayed we'd have probably both ended up dead.

I did the rarest activity that I ever did and hung out with my sisters. We don't bond like normal siblings. No watching TV together, we don't do each other's hair, or talk about boyfriends, or try to figure out how to forge our mother's signature. No, whenever we spend time with each other we practice our hunting skills.

"It's not fair," Nicole said. "I can't practice with my powers the way you guys do. I'd have to hurt something first, and that kind of defeats the whole point of my power."

Nicole healed things. Hunters heal much faster than humans, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't take a while. I never worried about getting scabs and bruises when I was little because I had a big sister who could always take care of that for me. She helped a lot of humans with her power when the vamps hurt them.

Olivia was standing with her hand over a glass of water. Smoke was steaming out of it as the water evaporated. Olivia burned things; it was a pretty cool power. Very useful for hunting, and although it is kind of harsh, the best use for it is as a torture mechanism. It isn't a very practical power although I suppose she gives our microwave a break every once in awhile.

Cheryl's power was telekinesis just like our mother. It was by far more practical than Olivia's or Nicole's. I watched as she concentrated on making the table hover in mid air.

One thing that I got a sense of satisfaction out of was the fact that my power always trumped theirs. I was the youngest so I usually missed out on all the good stuff, but not this. My power was useful for both hunting and practicality. Even though it's petty, I relished in the fact that my sisters envied my power, but hey, everyone has their faults right?

So we had a fairly decent day. We only fought a little. Strangely enough, for the most part we laughed and giggled and talked about school like normal sisters. Although, since we were doing it in between punches and kicks, I guess it can't really count as normal. When we started talking about crushes was when I felt uncomfortable.

"So what about you Evelyn? Who do you like?" Nicole asked slyly.

"Nobody," I said, attempting to laugh off her question. Why Anthony's face formed in my head was beyond my level of comprehension, but it definitely wasn't because I liked him. He was a _vampire_, ugh.

"Oh please," Olivia laughed at me, "it'll only be a matter of time before you and Ethan start going out."

"Ew," came my response.

They all laughed again at my reaction and then moved to the next topic of conversation.

All in all, I had a pretty decent day. That was probably because I didn't have to dwell on what happened with Anthony. Of course, that night while I was trying desperately to go to sleep, questions haunted me. What was he going to say? What if he brought it up and Ethan found out I lied? What if he just ignored me?

I tossed and turned, and I tried telling myself to just suck it up, but nothing worked. Eventually, at about two in the morning, I drifted into sleep.

I woke up to the "RIIINGGG" of my alarm. My body protested to my rolling off the comfort of the bed, but I ignored that as I went about getting ready. The morning went by peacefully enough, and before I knew it I was sitting in Nicole's car eating a banana nut muffin.

We got to school and at this point I had decided to just not worry about Anthony. If I ignored him then hopefully he would get the message to reciprocate. The problem was, I wasn't sure if I wanted to ignore him.

Nicole and I got out of the car and walked together towards the general vicinity of the school. Michelle from my English class came up to us.

"Hey Evelyn," she said with a strange look on her face.

"Hey," I said feeling awkward. Like I said, I don't normally talk to humans outside of the classroom. My friends consisted of hunters from all around the world, and if you think it's hard for me to keep in touch with them, I can assure you it's quite the contrary. We can all teleport so we actually have a much easier time seeing each other than normal friends who live three blocks away from each other would. Plus, we save gas money.

"So what did you do this weekend?" she asked rather nosily if I must say so. I didn't understand why she was talking to me, we weren't really friends.

"Nothing really, I hung around the house a lot," I answered cautiously. Nicole was watching us curiously.

"Really? So I guess your date with Anthony was just nothing?" She asked with mock surprise.

I felt the blood drain from my face. Now Nicole was _really _watching us curiously. "What are you talking about? I didn't go on a date with Anthony," I said.

She chuckled a bit at my words. "Don't lie, I saw you at IHOP yesterday morning. What, do you just not want Ethan to know?"

I realized why she'd come up to me. I remembered the way she'd flirted with Anthony, she was jealous. "Look, I didn't go on a date with Anthony. Just ask him, he'll tell you," I said to her. Nicole was glaring at me.

Michelle pursed her lips a little and then muttered a "see you later" and walked away. Nicole grabbed my arm and pulled me into a bathroom. A quick scan told her no one else was in there and she looked at me furiously.

"You were at IHOP with a vampire?" she asked with a disturbing hiss to her voice.

I took a deep breath. "Okay look, it's not like that," I said. I told her what happened, but I edited out the part where I let him take my knives, and I told a little white lie saying that I'd killed Edmund just so that I wouldn't look too pathetic.

She was fuming, but she didn't say anything. I don't think she knew what to say.

"Please don't tell anyone Nicky. It's not like I'm going to talk to him again. I'm going to stay away from him," I promised.

She sighed. "Okay calm down," she said when she saw my frantic expression. "This just means that we're going to have to kill him faster."

The words 'but he saved my life' were running through my head. Still, I could see Nicole's logic. Any vamp that knew about a hunter's vulnerabilities was dangerous.

Nicole let me go with a disapproving look on her face. I didn't let myself get annoyed. I was lucky she wasn't telling anybody.

I went to my locker. That was where Ethan met me every day so I wasn't surprised to see a male figure there, but as I got closer I realized who it was and almost turned back around. Anthony.

The hallway was empty but I looked around wildly to make sure anyway. "What are you doing?" I hissed at him.

"I came to see how you were feeling," he answered in his annoyingly calm way. "Your boyfriend was here about five minutes ago, but I think he got tired of waiting for you."

I decided to be mature and not rise to the bait. Instead of denying that Ethan was boyfriend, I opened my locker and stuffed some folders in, and then turned to walk away.

Anthony seemed disappointed when I refused his battle of the wits game. "Are you angry with me? Because I saved your life you know."

"So what are you just going to hold that above my head for the rest of my life?" I asked, annoyed.

"Hardly, unlike you I'm much more mature than that," he said. I opened my mouth to protest but before I could say anything he said, "I just wanted to know how you were doing. You were knocked out by a vampire yesterday, and then another vampire had to come along and save you. That can't be good for any hunter's wellbeing."

"I hate you so much," I said thr

He laughed, it seemed that laughing at me was all he ever did. "Actually I think you like me very, very much. Much more than you want to admit. Not that I blame you. I've been told that I'm pretty good looking."

"Cocky much?" I asked.

He grinned. "Really though, what's your problem with me? I've never done anything to you. When have I tried to hurt you?"

"Hey, in trig you tried to hypnotize me," I challenged.

"That doesn't count, I wasn't trying to hurt, just wanted to mess with your head a little. Like I said, you're cute when you're angry. You're too strong though, I knew you wouldn't have fallen for it," he said.

He thought I was strong? No, he was probably just making fun of me. After Saturday's episode he most likely just thought I was a little wannabe hunter, not worth any of his time. Then again, it was the second time he said I was cute.

"Whatever," I said. "Which way did Ethan go?"

"Are you really that anxious to see Ethan?" he asked.

"Why not? He's my best friend," I said.

He stared at me, but I couldn't read his expression. "But he'll never be your boyfriend?"

"Why the hell would you care?" I didn't know why I was still talking to him. I should have left the instant I saw him waiting for me.

"I was curious," he said. "Now exactly why are you going to class today?"

"Huh?" was my response. When I was around vamps I usually did my best to seem intelligent and in control, but Anthony seemed to bring out the stupid in me.

"Would you be interested in cutting class with me?" he asked.

"NO!" I almost screamed the word.

"Why not?" He actually seemed baffled by my answer.

"You mean besides the fact that you're an evil bloodsucking leech? And the fact that I'm a part of the race that's sworn to destroy you?" I said in disbelief.

"I thought we'd been through this. I. Am. Not. Evil." He spoke the words the words very slowly and carefully. "The whole 'I vant to suck your blood' thing really isn't my style," he assured me.

"That is so not the point," I said.

"Really then what is the point?" he asked exaggerating his curiosity.

I racked my brain for my point, but my brain didn't really want to cooperate. In my defense, it was impossibly hard to concentrate while looking him in the eye. I _could_ have _not_ looked him in the eye, but then he would've probably thought I was afraid of him or something. That, and well, he had _really_ nice eyes, the kind those poetic types would say you could get lost in…

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_Sorry about the evil cliffhanger, but it's not my fault. I have a test and/or homework in like every single class. I promise next chapter will be reeeeaaaally long with no cliffhanger._


	9. Chapter 9

_Hello everyone! Wow it feels like it's been such a long time since I've updated. This is my longest chapter yet (2,871 words). So I'm really iffy on this chapter. I don't know how good it is, but I really hope you guys like it. There was almost a cliffhanger for this one, but my friend (XxSilverxXxRosexX) managed to get me to not put one in. Anyways, I had writer's block a lot for this chapter which was annoying. I think it's because I do so much writing. Not only do I try to update my stories but, I also co-write a fanfiction with XxSilverxXxRosexX, and I'm in pre AP english and my school's newspaper, so it makes sense for me to feel a little burned out every once in awhile when it comes to the writing department. Anyways I really hope you all like this one. Thank you sooooooo much for the reviews, you guys are the best! Reviews really do motivate me to update. Enjoy!! _

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I was just standing there looking at him with nothing to say, feeling more and more like an idiot as the seconds passed by. And then who showed up? The worst possible person of course.

"Hi Ethan," I said when he came up to me. Thankfully there were other students in the hallway now, so there wouldn't be a scene.

Ethan was glaring at Anthony. "What do you want?" he asked rudely.

I looked at Anthony hoping that he wouldn't say anything to provoke Ethan, or to get me in trouble. Thankfully all he said was, "nothing." He glanced at me one more time and then walked away.

As soon as he left, Ethan looked down at me. "What did he want?" he asked.

"Nothing, I think he just wanted to mess with me," I said.

Ethan pursed his lips, "Are you sure?"

"Positive," I answered. The bell rang, "we're going to be late for class," I said and started walking off leaving Ethan at the lockers.

My first three classes passed by in a blur. Like every other student in the school I was anxiously anticipating lunch.

I was at my locker, piling my books in ready to go to the cafeteria. I saw Michelle talking to Anthony fluttering her eyelashes ridiculously again.

"So we have to stay on campus for lunch?" Anthony was asking.

"Yeah," she said, and went into a rant about the stupidity of school policies. "Last year we used to be able to leave campus for lunch, but there were a lot of accidents and kids ended up skipping school and stuff so they changed it. It's so dumb. The only reason it changed is because we got the new principle."

"That sucks," he said. "In my old school we used to be able to leave. Florida's strict." He sighed. "I guess I'll see you around."

Her friends came up to her, "Bye, I'll see you later," she said as she walked off.

He gave her a small wave and then looked up and saw me. Dammit. He was walking over, I wished I could've walk away, but then he'd probably think I was afraid of him, ugh.

"Hey," he greeted me. "You look like you're having a bad day. Still want to take up my offer for ditching school? Unless you feel some strong urge to sit through the entire lunch hour in the cafeteria," he said.

"I already told you," I said through clenched teeth, "I am _not_ going anywhere with you."

"Okay, how about this? I remember you saying 'I owe you one' for the whole saving your life thing. So, I'm using that against you now. You owe me this one small thing, and then after that, if you don't want me to, I'll never bother you again," he said with hopeful eyes. "My brothers would get upset if they knew I was using a favor from a hunter for a date, but what they don't know won't hurt them."

I stared at him and took a deep breath knowing I would regret this, "fine, I'll go with you, but NOT as a date. As acquaintances."

He smiled brightly, "perfect."

"Where do you want to go?" I asked. "And by the way, if anyone finds out that I skipped school to go somewhere for you, I will be dead, but I am _so_ taking you with me."

"Don't worry little huntress, I'm not going to let you get in trouble," he said mischievously.

I sighed, "Where exactly do you want to go? Because there is _no_ way I'm going back to your house."

He laughed. "Don't worry, we can go somewhere public that's nice and open. But wait, what if someone sees us? Wouldn't want to blow your cover would we? How about you choose the place?"

I glared at him. Where could we go? I was pretty sure that I was being way too paranoid about this, but if anybody saw me with a vampire I was dead. I didn't just have to worry about my family finding me, there was an entire network of hunters living in south Florida who would sell me out to my mother faster than you could ever possibly imagine.

He had his ridiculous grin on, which was actually more cute than ridiculous, but regardless I'm sure he had a ready suggestion, one that I wouldn't like. "Doesn't my house sound pretty good right about now?" he asked.

"No," I answered. "There is no way—"

"I don't see why not. You've been there and you're still alive and healthy, so what's the big deal? My brothers aren't even home; I'm pretty sure if you really wanted to you could kick my ass anyway. And on top of that I'm sure your mommy didn't let you leave the house this morning without a knife after finding out about the evil vampire now attending school," he said his last sentence teasingly.

I rolled my eyes. "Look we'll just take our chances and head over to Pizza Hut or something."

"Suit your self," he said. "But if your mom gets a craving for pizza during her lunch break don't blame me."

I took a deep breath. I couldn't believe I was letting him get to me. It's common sense that a girl shouldn't go into a vampire's house. Especially a powerful vamp like Anthony. He was looking at me expectantly, as if he already knew what I was going to say.

"Okay, we can go to your house, but we have to stay somewhere close to an exit-"

"So that you can run at the first sign of danger like a little coward?" he asked with his eyebrows raised.

"So that if you and your bloodsucking friends decide to gang up on me, I can get away," I said glaring.

"Ah, of course," he said.

"And I'm keeping my knife with me the entire time," I continued. "Also, I leave whenever I want."

"Yes ma'am," he said. "But you really shouldn't be so worried. My brothers aren't even home."

I rolled my eyes, "whatever."

That's how fifteen minutes later we ended up at his house. Getting out of school was no problem. We'd split up to leave the campus, all I had to do was go invisible, and he probably just hypnotized anybody who got in his way.

When we arrived at his house, I paused before stepping in. This was by far the most stupid thing that I'd ever done. Worse was the fact that I was completely aware of the stupidity and the danger, but I insisted on following through with it anyway.

We walked in, and he offered me a proper tour of the house, one that I refused. So he just led me to the kitchen, the entire time keeping a safe distance between us. The house did in fact appear to be empty, just as he'd said, and he didn't seem to have any motive for having me there other than to talk.

"I ordered pizza, is that okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, but it won't get here before we have to get back to school," I said.

"I ordered from since before second period, whether or not you came with me, I wasn't planning on staying in school," he told me.

Sure enough, right then we heard the "ding dong" of the doorbell and he left to go answer the door.

"Wasn't sure what you'd like, so I got cheese," he said opening the box.

"Cool," I took a small slice and nibbled at it feeling increasingly more uncomfortable. I decided that as long I was here, I might as well make some kind of conversation. "So, it's just you and your brothers?"

He seemed surprised that I was attempting civilized conversation, but he recovered quickly. "Yeah, our uncle changed us, but he doesn't exactly agree with our lifestyle choice." An awkward silence followed. "You still don't believe me about the whole good vampire thing do you?"

"Not really, no," I answered. "Every vamp I've met before you has tried to kill me. A vampire killed my father."

Why did I tell him that? Because I was an idiot that's why. One of the top ten rules of vampire hunting was to not get friendly with your prey, well my coming to his house for lunch was already a violation of that one. Another rule, don't divulge personal information that can be used against you. Broke that one too. Yup, I was definitely the stupidest rebel in existence.

He looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry."

I glanced at the clock. We'd been here for fifteen minutes. "Okay, so how do you get blood? You need it to live don't you?"

Again he looked surprised at the fact that I was talking to him. "Animal blood provides just as much sustenance as human blood. And when that isn't readily accessible we take human blood." I raised an eyebrow, and he continued quickly. "We take human blood, but we don't kill them. It doesn't hurt them, they don't even remember it."

"Barbaric," I muttered.

"Really? What if it was up to you? If you had to drink human blood to stay alive, and you knew you could do it without harming the human physically, mentally, or emotionally, would you do it? Or would you rather die?" he didn't seem smug as he waited for my answer. He just watched as I processed what he was saying.

I hated the way that he could always make points to shut me up. If he was telling the truth about not hurting anyone, I couldn't see how what he did was really so wrong. "I don't know," I said. "I never had to think about it."

"I'm not saying that vampires are a misperceived race. I know how evil the majority is, I'm only speaking for myself and my brothers when I talk about us being good." He said.

I was beginning to feel relaxed. I leaned back in my chair, and grabbed another slice of pizza. "But what happens when you come across another vamp, like Edmund?"

He settled back too. "We don't argue with them. We don't try to change their ways, it would never work. We _do_ let them stay with us sometimes, but only if they follow our rules. Most of the time, they do. Edmund was a rare exception. When they do break the rules, we're pretty much always strong enough to take them out. Even if they do happen to be more powerful we out number them. As a rule of thumb, we never let more than two vamps stay with us at any one time."

I listened carefully as he gave me details of his life. "Why are you telling me all this stuff? I could use all of it against you. After I leave, I could go home and tell all my hunter friends about the new vamps' secrets, and we could kill you all easily."

"Who said I was planning on letting you leave? I could be toying with you before I eat you," he said, all of sudden very serious. I stiffened and positioned my body so that it was ready to fight. To my surprise, he chuckled. "You're very fun to mess with you know? I already told you. I'm not going to hurt you. What do I have to do to make you believe me?"

I let my muscles relax again. "Why did you want me to come here with you?"

"I wanted to get to know you better," he answered. Nothing about the way he said it made me think he was joking.

"Why would you want to do that? I'm a hunter, I'm supposed to hate you." I reminded him.

He stood up and cautiously took a step closer to me. "_Do_ you hate me?"

"Maybe, why?" I asked. I glanced at the knife I'd set down on the table next to me.

"It's kind of essential for me to know. It could very well dictate my next action," he answered vaguely.

My eyes narrowed. "That tells me nothing."

He kept coming closer. "Just answer the question. Do you or do you not hate me?" I stood up, unsure of what to do or what to say.

My mother would be disappointed in me. I didn't hate him. I didn't have any real reason to, especially after the whole him saving my life thing. "No, I don't."

He was _way_ too close to me now, I considered moving, but instead I stayed frozen. "Well that's a good thing."

He took my hand and brought me even closer to him. Before I knew it his arms were wrapped around me. Still, I didn't move. If I was going to be incredibly stupid today, why not be thorough? He brought his face closer to mine, and then, he kissed me.

My body was pressed against his. His body was muscular and warm and he held me tightly. It felt, good? No, it felt amazing. My brain tried to direct my body to stop, to push him away, or at least to not enjoy it so much, it didn't work. I let him run his hands through my hair and move his lips down to my neck before I had the sense to stop.

"Wait, I can't do this," I said gasping for breath. He was a _really_ good kisser.

"Why not?" he seemed genuinely puzzled.

"_Because_," I began, stressing the word, "you are a vampire and I am a vampire hunter. Do you see how that wouldn't work out?"

"Not really," he answered.

I realized his arms were still wrapped around me. I pushed at his chest a little, not really trying very hard. Irresponsible once again, but any normal girl who _saw_ him wouldn't blame me. I took a deep breath, I needed to focus, and that wasn't going to happen while I was snuggling up to him, especially since it felt so good.

I pushed him harder and extracted myself from his grasp. "Why did you kiss me?" I asked keeping my voice steady.

"I thought it was obvious. I kissed you because I like you," he said as if I shouldn't have even been asking.

"No, you can't like me," I groaned.

"I don't see why you're so opposed to this. Is it because I'm a bad kisser?" I didn't say anything. He smirked. "I didn't think so, you seemed to enjoy it."

"Had a lot of practice? Ugh, how old are you anyway? Please tell me I wasn't just kissing an old guy."

He grinned, "You think I've had a lot of practice?"

I rolled my eyes, "I _so_ don't want to hear about that."

"You know, I thought you were cute when you were angry, but it's so much better when you're jealous," he said.

"I'm not jealous. Why would I care about how many girls you may or may not have kissed?" I asked pursing my lips.

"Because you like me," he said simply.

Ugh, nothing worse than a vamp hung up on himself. "Cocky much?"

He put his arms around me again. "I really don't want to fight with you. Now, backgrounds aside, if we were just two regular people, would you have minded the kiss?"

"Yes," I answered immediately.

He looked me dead the eye. "Really?"

Damn him and his blue eyes. He was still holding me gently, and it actually didn't feel too bad. I sighed and told the truth. "No I wouldn't have minded. Happy now?"

He grinned widely, "You have no idea."

I pushed at his arms a little. "You know you can let go right?"

He was still grinning. "Yeah, but what if I don't want to?"

I bit my lip. "Umm…"

He laughed and kissed my cheek. "We can keep it a secret," he suggested. "No one really has to know."

"You want me to lie to my mom?" I asked.

"You're a teenager, it's kind of your job," he reminded me.

I put my arms around his waist, giving up on convincing him or myself that I wasn't feeling _something_. "It's not going to work. What would your family think about this anyway?"

He answered quickly. "My brothers wouldn't care. They know I'm not stupid."

"Really? You're not stupid?" I cut in. "Could've fooled me."

He smiled. "The insults don't have quite the same effect when you're hugging the person you're insulting. And how do you know it wouldn't work? Been in many forbidden romances?"

"Why? Are you jealous?" I asked playfully. Yes, I was flirting. I'd completely sold my soul.

"Can we just try? I promise, I will do my very best to keep you out of trouble," he said.

"You know, a few days ago I would've laughed if someone told me I'd one day be considering being a vampire's girlfriend. Laughed and then cringed," I told him.

"Yes or no?" he asked patiently.

"If I regret this—" I started.

"You won't, I promise," he cut in.

I sighed. "Okay, we can try."

I made no move to stop him as he pulled me closer to him and kissed me again.

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_See? No cliffhanger. By the way do you guys like short chapters or long ones?_


	10. Chapter 10

_Hello everybody! I feel like I haven't updated in so long. I want to start by thanking you all for the wonderful reviews that I got. You guys are amazing. I have good news! I'm going to be the assistant entertainment editor on my school's newspaper next year! I was so worried I wasn't going to get an editing position, but I did so I'm in a pretty good mood. Sadly I also have bad news, I take two AP classes and the AP exams are in about a month. I have to do MAJOR studying or I'll fail. School always comes first, so you won't be seeing much of me for a little while. If I do get to post the chapters will be pretty short. I'm sorry. But don't worry, AFTER the exams (supposing they don't kill me) you all will get chapters galore AND I'll make them long. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this one! Your praise is wonderful, but if you feel like telling me I suck you can always feel free to do that too. Hope you like it!! :D_

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I ended up spending the rest of the day with Anthony. We would have a very strange relationship, and at various times I wondered if he was just using me to get to the other hunters, but he didn't seem to have any ulterior motive, and he didn't ask much about my hunting lifestyle. It was kind of nice to spend some time not thinking about all my supernatural stress. However, just because he didn't ask me about being a hunter doesn't mean that stopped me from asking him about being a vampire.

"What, you never felt weird about drinking blood?" I was asking. At first I'd thought if my curiosity would seem rude, or that vampiric lifestyles would be a touchy subject. It turned out that Anthony had no problems talking about it with me.

"No, it's different when you turn. You feel that it's necessary, and only crazy people deny their bodies the necessities," he answered.

The phone rang and he left to go answer. While he was gone I got a text message from Ethan.

It read: **Where r u? The vamp isnt here eithr.**

I panicked momentarily. Was he suspicious? Then I forced my nerves to calm down, he couldn't be. I texted back: **I went home. I wondr where the vamp is? **

Anthony came back into the room. He sat down on the couch and kissed my cheek. "So now that you've drilled me with questions about being a vampire does that mean it's my turn to ask you about being a hunter? I have to be able to defend myself if this is all a trap and you're just playing with me."

My eyes widened. "You think _I'm_ tricking _you_?" I asked in shock.

He smiled. "Anything's possible right?"

I rolled my eyes. "What do you want to know?"

He considered for a moment. "All hunters have a power right? What's yours?"

"Invisibility," I told him.

"Really? Let me see," he said curious.

I rolled my eyes and then shielded my body view.

"Wow, that's impressive," he said.

I smiled. "Yeah, I'm good like that."

Time went by at a rate that couldn't be considered normal. I cursed and jumped up when I glanced at the time on my cell phone.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked concerned.

"Look at the time," I said shoving the phone in his face. "I have to beat my sisters home!"

"Miss Huntress? Do you or do you not have the power to teleport?" he asked playfully.

I came out of my frantic state. "Right, of course."

He laughed. "Are you always this scatterbrained? Or is it my amazing good looks that have out of your element?"

"I am not always scatterbrained," I said haughtily.

"Ah, so then it is my good looks," he said with a grin.

"Shut up," I said, and then added, "I'm leaving now."

"No wait," his eyes widened a bit with panic. "You don't have to go now. I'll be good."

"Actually I do have to go now. I'm supposed to go hunting with my sister tonight," I said.

He sighed, "Fine. If you really have to…"

I have to say, I more than a little excited that he was disappointed to see me go. "I do, but I'll see you tomorrow right?"

"Mhm," he said, "Ok, fine I'll see you in school."

He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me again. I sighed, disappointed that I had to pull away first. He smiled a little at that, and then kissed my cheek one last time before I teleported home.

At home I didn't know what to do with myself. It wasn't like I had any friends to go running to with excitement. All of my close friends and family were hunters, telling them about my new vampire boyfriend wouldn't really help the relationship.

"You cut class today?" I jumped when I heard Nicole's voice.

"Hey Nicky," I said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Where were you?"

"I spent some time at home just hung out. I was feeling a little tired, and I didn't want to be in school. It's not like I'm going to do it often. Just this once," I said when I saw the disapproving way she was staring at me.

"Home huh?" she said it while staring me down as if expecting to figure out something I was holding back. "Don't mix me up with Cheryl, I don't care about whether or not you skip class every once in a while. But why did you lie and me that you were home. I know that you weren't home at all because I was home."

My heart was pounding. She caught me, she didn't know about Anthony, she couldn't have known that, but she was suspicious. So I told another lie, one that might get me into more trouble I would like but it was better than the truth. "I went hunting. I don't like always having to go with somebody like a little kid. I was bored, and I wanted to get out. Sorry," I said.

Her face relaxed. She trusted me. She'd believed every single word I'd said, it made me feel bad. How many lies was I going to have to tell?

"Well you could have just said so. I wasn't going to tell on you. It's dangerous though, and another hunter could've seen you and told Mom," she said.

"I know, I'm not going to do it again, it was only a one time thing," I said.

She turned to leave, but then stopped remembering something. "Did you see the vamp in school today?"

"In the morning before class started. I told him to leave me alone, and Ethan showed up, so it was fine," I said, "Ethan sent me a text saying that the vamp wasn't in Trig today," I added. Everything I'd said to her was true. I'd just neglected to include the part about me spending the entire afternoon with him. It made me feel even worse when I remembered my promise to stay away from him.

"We're going to have to do something about him. But it'll be tricky since he goes to school, he'll have records and files surrounding him. If he goes missing there'd be a big investigation," she worried. Then I worried when I heard the next words out of her mouth, "Do you want to help us with a plan?"

Damn, how was I supposed to say no without looking suspicious? "Who's 'us'?" I asked.

"Well me, Mom wants updates on it's going, and Ethan said he'd want to help," she said and paused before adding the final name, "and Olivia said she'd be interested."

Yes! I never thought I would be so happy for Olivia's existence. It was common knowledge that we did not work well together. "Olivia?" I asked letting slight disgust lace voice. "No thanks."

Nicole sighed, "Alright, I'm hunting tonight. Coming?"

"Yeah sure," I said. "What time?"

"Around eight, I guess," she answered.

She left and I went to my room hardly believing my luck. I'd been so close to getting caught. I knew I wouldn't always be that lucky, and it wouldn't always be Nicole, who always played the role of the cool big sister, asking the questions. Next time it could be my mother, who had a knack for spotting lies a mile away. It worried me about what I was going to do with my family, but I didn't feeling like thinking about it for long.

I called Ethan with the hope of making some kind of amends. I invited him over to the house, and we watched TV for a little while. I did everything possible to make this not awkward. I made sure that he would not confuse anything for being romantic. I ordered pizza, I wore old jeans and an oversized t-shirt, and I put on _Shrek_ for us to watch, no way would he ever confuse that with some sort of date.

"How come you didn't tell me you were skipping today?" he asked in the middle of the movie.

"You know, the movie isn't as enjoyable when people talk through it," I chastised.

He raised an eyebrow not saying anything.

"I just didn't feel like being in school. I wasn't hiding anything from you. I knew you'd find out eventually," I said trying to grab hold of some fact that would make what I was saying believable.

He took a deep breath, he wanted to say something, I knew it. "Do you want to go to the movies tomorrow?"

I did my best to not let the horror show on my face. He was asking me out on a date. "I told Nicky I was going hunting with her tomorrow," I said quickly. Why was it that everything I'd said this afternoon was lies?

"I thought you were going with her today?" he asked looking upset.

"Well yes, but tomorrow's different. I invited Jack and Emily to come with us," I lied again. Jack and Emily were friends, who also happened to be hunters, living in New York.

This sparked curiosity. "Really? I haven't seen them in a long time," Ethan said.

"I know, me either, it's why I called them. I don't know for sure yet though. I'm still waiting for a definite yes," I continued lying hoping that he wasn't seeing right through me.

Nicole walked into the room and smirked when she saw us sitting together on the couch. My whole family seemed to think that Ethan and I would get together as soon as I got past my supposed "phase" of playing hard to get.

"Hey Ethan," she said to him. "Evelyn, I'm leaving in about ten minutes if you're ready or not."

"Okay," I said jumping up. I saw disappointment in Ethan's eyes at the realization that I now had an excuse to avoid his question.

I hadn't hunted with Nicole in a while. I liked it though. She wasn't as critical as my mother, and not nearly as overbearing and overprotective as Ethan.

I remembered I had to tell her about my plans to avoid Ethan. "Will you go hunting with me tomorrow?"

"Yeah sure," she answered immediately.

"Okay good," I said. "Will you call Jack and Emily and invite them to go with us?"

"I guess if you want to, we haven't seen them in a while. Why though?" she asked curiously.

I told her about Ethan and how he'd asked me out. She laughed at my attempt to avoid his awkward questions. "You know you won't be able to avoid him forever right?"

"Yeah, I just don't want to deal with it now. So are you going to call them or not?" I asked her impatiently.

She laughed again. "Yeah, I don't see why you just won't date him though. You guys are good for each other."

"Eww," I said making a face. "He's like my brother."

We were keeping close to home. Still though, I had no idea exactly what we were doing.

"Nicky? Who exactly are we tracing?" I asked.

"There was a vamp that hurt a human really bad about two days ago – I've been trying to find him. I didn't get to see his face or track him or anything because I was healing the human and he managed to get away. I did sense him though. He was powerful," her expression turned thoughtful. "It was similar to the vamp in school."

I didn't say anything. I wasn't thinking about the vamp in school. Well, okay I was, but I wasn't proud of myself for it.

Nicole stopped walking. I paused with her, then I sensed it. A vamp and he _was_ powerful.

Nicole held her knife tightly. I went invisible – it was always good to have that element of surprise. Cleary the vamp had sensed us too. He didn't come at us to fight or to defend. He sauntered in all confident and cocky. When I saw his face I realized why.

* * *

_My apologies about the cliffhanger, but it isn't my fault this time. I thought about telling you guys who it was really, but XxSilverxXxRosexX convinced me otherwise. XxSilverxXxRosexX says that she would personally hate to read a cliffhanger like this one, because it's so good and literally leaves her wanting more. She says she's sorry for encouraging the aforementioned cliffhanger, because she knows how upset all of you will be and how many different scenarios will run through your mind, as they ran through hers as well. Aka -- this is not my fault. Although since XxSilverxXxRosexX is kinda an insider on the story she can't sympathize completely since I did throw hints at her till she got it, but don't hate her too much for knowing, I did torture her quite a bit first._


	11. Chapter 11

_Hello all! I want to begin by apologizing, I know you were all upset by the evil and terrible cliffhanger that I left at the end of the last chapter. I actually wasn't planning on updating until after my big exams, but I felt so bad that I decided that since I came home early today I should update. What I SHOULD have been doing was studying, but I put that off for you guys (this is the part where you should all feel special). Thankyou sooo very much to those of you who reviewed, you guys are amazing. Enjoy the 2000+ word chapter that I wrote just for you guys. Just a reminder, reviews are wonderful. I hope you like it!_

* * *

Lucas, the vampire that killed my father, was standing there grinning with his hands in his pockets. He looked at Nicole casually, waiting for her to do something. I was still invisible.

"Hmm which Sinclair sister are you?" he teased Nicole lightly. "Couldn't be Cheryl, she would have attacked me by now, definitely not Olivia, that girl has way too much pent up anger. So that means you're one of the younger ones. Nicole, correct?"

Nicole, at first startled by his appearance, regained her composure. She gripped the handle of her knife and stared at him with hawk eyes, taking in his every movement.

"Why are you here?" she asked him.

He grinned. "Don't tell me you're not happy to see me. I was so looking forward to it. Besides I think your mother will be pleased that I'm back, I heard she spent a rather long time looking for me."

Anger was boiling inside me. I wanted to kill him. He _murdered_ my father and now here he was back, ready to taunt and threaten like the bastard he was. I just wanted to shut him up.

"How's your little sister? Evelyn's her name right? I heard she took your father's death a little hard," Lucas said.

Nicole was never one of the impulsive sisters, Olivia and I handled that title. Rather than letting him get to her she said, "Get away from me."

Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Since when do hunters tell their pray to leave? Don't tell me you guys are getting soft," he mocked.

His body was tenser now. He didn't plan on letting her get away. _I _was going to have to be the one to get us out of here. After all I was the only element of surprise that we had.

I made sure I had a firm grip on my knife, and moved as swiftly as possible toward him. My heart thrummed loudly as I walked over to him. I took a breath and held my arm back to get as much force as possible. My hand moved closer. I was about to pierce his heart.

I gasped loudly when he caught hold of me. He'd swerved the instant he felt the point of the blade against his chest. My knife made a small scratch and he grunted in pain when the poison entered his system. He was going to bite me, I raised my knife stabbing wildly first at air then finally I hit his body. He let out a pitiful screech when my knife went into his left shoulder. Nicole moved quickly to kick him and back and just as he was about to grab a hold of both of us we teleported out.

"Are you okay?" Nicole looked at me worried.

"Mhm, you?" I asked.

"Perfect," she said and then looked at my forearm. A purplish bruise had formed, outlining the marks Lucas' fingers had made when he grabbed me. She touched it lightly and in a matter of seconds my skin returned to normal color.

"We have to tell the Administratio," I said. "I wonder why he's back. Do you think he's here for something specific or is he just bored and looking for a challenge to entertain him?"

Nicole was watching me strangely. "You're not a very conceited person are you?"

"Huh?" I asked.

"Do you realize what you did? You wounded Lucas. Mom didn't get a scratch on him when she fought him. More than five other hunters died seconds after stabbing him and they didn't even make it close to his heart. You should be proud of yourself," she said smiling.

I hadn't even realized what I'd done. I'd been so caught up in other things. "I just have an upper hand with the invisibility thing. It was luck," I said trying to sound modest and keep from blushing.

"I wish I had your kind of luck," Nicole said. "Come on we have to go tell Mom. Do you know where she is?"

"I think she was meeting with the Administratio at Rick's house," I said.

"Perfect," she said, "let's go."

About twenty seconds later, we showed up at Rick's house. Rick was the youngest and newest member of the Administratio. We were so obsessed with telling them about Lucas we hadn't really thought about propriety. Normally, hunters come and go into each others homes whenever we want, but interrupting an Administratio meeting was rude and generally not condoned. It was one of those terrible times where you show up somewhere and every person in the room looks up to stare at you and wonder why you were there.

"Girls, what are you doing here?" Mom said, standing up as if ready to shoo us away, there was slight disapproval in her eye and little embarrassment.

"Sorry about this," Nicole mumbled. She wasn't used to messing up, that was my job in the family.

"It's no problem girls," Rick said. "Did you have something important to tell us or do you just need your mother?"

Thank god Rick was nice. "All of you," I said.

"Lucas is back," Nicole announced to the room.

The blood drained from my mother's face and her eyes hardened. She looked completely emotionless. There were a few gasps and some whispered words of worry, but everyone fell silent at my mother's voice.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I took Evelyn hunting with me and he came up to us," Nicole answered.

"Ava, maybe you should sit down," Rick suggested leading Mom to a couch. "How did you girls get away?"

"Evy was invisible when he came up to us. So he didn't see and she was able to stab his arm. He was distracted enough for us to teleport back home," Nicole explained.

"_You_ stabbed Lucas?" Patrick, another member, asked me. His voice was so full of contempt that I had to remind myself to not be indignant.

"Yeah, like Nicole said, I was invisible so…" I didn't feel so bad when I glanced at my mother who was looking at me with pride.

"Very good," she said. She seemed to have come out of her shock. "Okay this means that we have a lot to do." She looked at me, "Did you get the knife in deep?"

"About two inches I think," I answered.

"Okay good that means that the poison's in his bloodstream. It wasn't enough to kill him, but I think that he'll be weaker for the next week or two depending on how strong the poison was on Evelyn's knife," Mom continued.

"It was the strongest we have at home," Nicole put in. "I was the one who coated the knives."

­­­­"Okay, so we'll come up with a plan to track him, and hopefully kill him within the next week," my Mom decided.

"That sounds good," said another of the Administrario, Aurora.

"We should also put a ban on younger hunters around this area," Rick said. At his words my heart deflated, I was already on a ban, what if they stopped me from hunting altogether? But I didn't have to worry because he said, "the ones under sixteen shouldn't be going out. Even with a chaperone, it's too dangerous. You might want to lift Evelyn's ban though, wounding Lucas was quite the accomplishment. She managed to save herself and her sister. I'd say she's ready to be on her own again," he said with a wink at me.

I grinned a little, but waited to hear what my mother would say. "I agree. Good job, Evelyn. You don't need any more chaperones." Then she said to Nicole, "You two should head home. Make sure to tell Cheryl and Olivia what's going on."

My smile was stretched wide across my face. "Okay, come on Evelyn," Nicole said and we teleported back to our house.

"Congratulations, you're free," she said when we were back in the living room. She played with her wristwatch, and her eyebrows rose. "Wow I didn't even realize it was after midnight. You should probably go to bed; I'm going to do the same after I tell Cheryl and Olivia what happened."

I nodded and headed up the stairs. It felt wrong to be happy. But I was free! Even though I owed my new hunting independence to the freak that killed my father, I was a teenage girl, I couldn't help it. It was also wrong to be in a good mood about my vampire boyfriend, but what was I supposed to do if my teenage hormones didn't feel like listening to logic.

I ended up skipping off to bed where I slept like a baby. It was the best kind of sleep there is, hours and hours of dreamless, peaceful sleep. Of course, it had to be ruined by the idea of school the next morning.

After getting ready, I went downstairs where I was greeted with praise from Cheryl. "Good job last night. I heard your ban was lifted too, good for you," she said with a smile. I thought it was really nice of her to say and I _was_ going to thank her but then she said, "And Nicky told me Ethan asked you out. What are you going to do?"

"Ugh nothing, he's just my friend," I said.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say."

"Why did Nicole tell you anyway? Don't I get an ounce of privacy in this house?" I asked.

"Nope," Olivia said coming in to the kitchen. "Whatever privacy there was that was left to be dished out was split amongst your big sisters. You're the youngest, so we decided you don't need it."

I glared at her. "This is why I don't tell you guys anything."

Nicole came in the room, but she shushed me before I could yell at her for telling Cheryl and Olivia about Ethan. "Don't get mad, it just kind of slipped out, but I did do you a humongous favor to make up for it."

"What's that?" I asked.

"I called Emily and Jack. It makes sense for them to be here with Lucas back and everything, they're really good hunters. Anyways, Emily said that she'd come when we got home from school, so you're off the hook with Ethan." She said.

"Thank god!" I said with relief.

As usual, I rode with Nicole to school. In the car I could feel my nervous excitement about seeing Anthony. We'd have to meet in private; if anyone – like Ethan – saw us together, I would most likely be killed viciously and without mercy by my mother.

Still though, stupidly giddy with excitement, I went to my locker to shove my books into it. I glanced at my watch. Ethan would show up to school in about two minutes.

I felt someone come behind me and put their arms around me. "Anthony!" I exclaimed, grinning.

"Hey," he said with his perfect smile. He leaned down and kissed my cheek lightly and was about to kiss my lips when I stopped him, looking up and down the hall for a possible spy.

"If somebody sees me…" I said and instantly a wave of worry came over me and I had to untangle myself from Anthony troubled that somebody could come at any minute and see us together.

"You're very paranoid," he observed.

I nodded my head vigorously. "You're going to have to learn to deal with it," I said, my eyes still trained at the hallway entrance. I looked back at him to see a big grin on his face. "What?"

"If I have to learn to put up with you, it means you're going to keep me around for a while," he said.

"Well, as long as I don't get bored… I _guess_ you can stay," I teased.

He kissed me before I could stop him again. He pulled back and said, "Exciting enough for you?"

"Not bad," I said with a smile. "But still, Ethan comes to meet me every morning at my locker and—"

"I know, I know, if somebody sees you with me the world come to a pitifully destructive and painful, dreary end," he said.

"You were the one who suggested that we keep this a secret," I reminded him.

"Only because I know how paranoid you are. If you want to go public I'm all for it," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "I can't do that."

"I know," he softly, understanding. "This is why I said we keep it a secret. Now I'm assuming you want me to leave?"

"Well, I don't _want_ you to…" I said.

He smiled and kissed my cheek again before saying goodbye and walking off.

* * *

_I have to dish out praise to ilovetwilight99 for guessing right about the vamp being Lucas. I was very impressed. Just to warn you guys, I won't be updating againg until after May 15. Understand that if another new chapter is posted before that date it will be a miracle. Also, I am no superwoman, so even though I will try to get chapter 12 posted May 16, that may not necessarily happen. :(_


	12. Chapter 12

_Yay, AP exams are done!! I finally get to update! I missed you guys. Thank you for the reviews. Okay, so I started writing this chapter on Friday, but I almost immediately got writer's block, it was really annoying. While I was writing, I realized how out of practice I was, so I'm not sure if this chapter is my best work. This chapter was actually supposed to be wayyyyyyyy longer, but it's 3:34 AM right now, and I wanted to post for you guys. I know you've all waited a really long time for an update and I thank you all for your patience. By the way, I have a question for you all. Okay, way back when I was writing chapter 4 I was going to include some more background for the hunters, except the background got REALLY long. Before I was finished, I had a whole new plot idea. So here's my question: Would you guys be interested a sequel to this story? I think I know the answer to this, but I want to know just to be sure. Anyways, I know this author's note is kinda long, don't worry it's almost over. I hope you all enjoy this one!! :)_

* * *

Ethan showed up about two minutes after Anthony left. "Hey, I heard you stabbed Lucas, nice," he said with a grin.

I smiled a little. "It was luck. I'm free now, though. No more chaperones."

"Cool," he said. "So what are you doing tonight?"

Uh-oh. I really hoped he wasn't going to try to ask me out again. "Jack and Emily are supposed to be coming, remember I told you?"

"Yeah," he said, "I haven't seen them in forever."

"You can come over," I offered. "I'm not really sure what we're going to do though. It's not going to be just another hunting trip if Lucas is back," I frowned.

"And we still need to worry about the vamp that's in school," Ethan said.

At first, I didn't say anything in response. "What do you think we should do about him?" I asked casually.

Ethan watched me strangely. "Kill him. What else?"

"But it's not like he's one of those reclusive vamps. He's actually social, people will notice if he all of s sudden goes missing. The government will get involved," I rambled.

"We just need a plan to get around that," Ethan said.

"Well that's what I meant. What's the plan?" I asked.

"I was supposed to meet with your sisters today, but I don't know things are working out now that Lucas is back," he answered. "Why aren't you working with us?"

"Because Olivia's going to be there," I said.

My answer needed no explanation. He knew I didn't work well with my sister. He frowned a bit, but didn't try to coax me into working with them. The bell rang soon after and Ethan walked me to my first class.

The day dragged on. I could feel my eyelids dropping as my teachers lectured. My teachers were merciless with the amount of homework they assigned, and time seemed to stop as I waited anxiously for lunch.

I know that every single student in the class and probably in the school was counting down the minutes till lunch. We do it every single day. But today I was especially excited. Ethan would be making up a test that he'd missed during lunch, leaving me free to spend the hour with Anthony. It's terrible, I know, to prefer to see your boyfriend over your best friend, but since I would already have limited time with Anthony, every second was precious.

Finally, the bell rang for lunch and everyone rushed out of class. I followed suit and started speed walking to the spot where I told Anthony I'd meet him.

I could sense that he was already there before I was even out of the building. I thought it was strange the way I no longer felt the impulse to kill him the way I had that first day he'd come. Normally, I would have been worried that my powers were messed up, but I didn't really feel like worrying about anything now.

When I finally met up with Anthony, he took me in his arms and kissed me again. The kiss was just as soft as the one he'd given earlier, but more enthusiastic. He pulled me close to him. My heart beat faster as I inhaled his musky scent and pressed myself against his muscular body. Then, I pulled my face back away from his.

He leaned in and I thought he was going to kiss me again, but instead he asked, "Why is it, you always stop first?" His face was two inches away from mine and he was twirling a lock of my hair with his right hand while he kept his left firmly around my waist.

"Huh?" was my response.

"Whenever I kiss you, you sigh and pull away. Ethan isn't here to catch us you know," he reminded me.

"Wow, you actually used his name," I said.

"Well I don't think he's your boyfriend anymore," he said, "at least, I hope he isn't."

I rolled my eyes. "Did you ever really think I was dating him?"

"In the beginning, especially since you were always together, but on my first day I heard you talking to your friend about how you didn't want to date him. Made my day."

"Did it?" I asked.

"Mhm, I had a crush," he answered smiling. I rolled my eyes at this. "But you're avoiding my question. Are you really worried that someone's going to find us?"

"Yes," I answered without hesitating. "I sort of promised my sister, the one that goes to school here, that I would stay away from you. So if she sees us within ten feet of each other…"

"Ah, well you should know that I happen to have enhanced hearing. It kind of comes with the whole vampire thing. So even if anyone _was_ trying to sneak up on us, I'd be able to sense them," he assured me.

"Yeah, but some hunters are stealthy enough to get past vampire senses," I worried.

"I better than most hunters," he said confidently.

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? Are you better than me?"

He grinned. "Don't turn my words around like that."

I sighed. "Okay, from now on I promise to _try_ to not be so paranoid all the time. No guarantees though."

He kissed me lightly on the cheek. "Thank you. And now I have something else to ask you about."

I feigned weariness. "What now?"

"Doesn't dating constitute, you know, actually going out on dates?" he asked.

I shrugged. "How would I know? I'm new to this."

"The point of the question was leading up to my asking: can we go out? Or is that too risky for you?" he wondered.

"Do you have somewhere to take me?" I asked.

"Maybe. Or maybe I'd just like the idea of being able to see you beyond the school's walls," he answered.

"Well, I _think_ I could do it without getting caught. I _hope_ so," I said.

"Excellent," he grinned.

At this point we sat down. He leaned against the tree trunk and I snuggled up close to him. He kept his arm around me.

"Do I get to ask a question now?" I wondered.

He smiled and nodded.

"What do your brothers think about me?" I asked awkwardly.

His face was blank. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, we both know my family would be completely against us being together. I was wondering what yours thought about it," I said.

"They don't mind us being together. They haven't really formed any specific opinions about you yet. They only have that first impression, when you gave them both death stares, to go off of. I asked them not to judge by that," he said.

I bit my lip. "Oh right that. Well that was back from when I thought all vampires were evil."

He raised his eyebrows. "And you don't think so anymore?"

"Well I'm not about to give up hunting, but I know you're not evil," I said and then sighed. "How long do you think we can really keep this a secret?"

His fingers stroked my face tenderly. "I'm willing to try for as long as we can," he said. "I thought you were going to try to be less paranoid?"

I looked away, not sure if I should voice what I was thinking. "I was, but…"

"But what?" he asked.

"It's really dangerous," I began.

He sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you I'm not going to let you get in trouble?"

"I didn't say it was dangerous for _me_," I told him.

He looked at me curiously. "What does that mean?"

"My family is planning to kill you," I blurted out.

He didn't move, didn't flinch, he didn't even look remotely worried. "I can take care of myself."

All of sudden I felt scared and worried. "Would you kill them?"

I stared at his blue eyes as I waited for an answer. He took my hand and kissed the back of it.

"Evelyn, do you think I would expect you to want to be with me if I killed someone in your family?" he asked.

"What about Ethan?" I asked.

He was rubbing my back, trying to soothe me. "I know you think of him as family."

I took a breath trying to relax. "But what are you going to do when they come after you?"

"Worry about it then," he answered. "Now can we talk about something else? This topic about the possibility of my death is just a little depressing."

I smiled. "Fine, what do you want to talk about?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. What do you want to talk about?"

"Please don't tell me we're going to get into one of _those_ cliché conversations," I pleaded.

"Seems that way, unless you can come up with something else to talk about," he said. "If not, I'm always up for another kiss."

He leaned in to kiss me. I pulled back and hit him playfully. "All guys are the same," I said shaking my head, "even the vampire ones."

"I just wanted one little kiss," he said.

"Fine," I responded. I gave him a peck on the cheek.

"That's it?" he complained.

"Yup. I know what I want to talk about now," I said.

"You're such a tease," he said. "What did you decide you wanted to talk about?"

"Well, I don't know if _you_ would want to talk about it," I said.

He raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"I want to know about how you became a vampire," I said. I bit my lip waiting for his reaction.

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_I know this is a mean way to end it, but as I've said it's really late or early depending on how you look at it. Don't worry I promise to work on chapter 13 ASAP._


	13. Chapter 13

_I know, I know, I'm terrible and I took forever to update. Blame my teachers for giving me so much homework. This is a pretty long chapter though, so that should keep you guys happy for a while. I think I made a mistake in posting my other story (Lack of an Afterlife, which is on , if you want to read it) while I'm still doing this story. Two stories plus homework plus trying to have a life equals stress. But whatever, I deal with it. You all give such wonderful reviews that make my day. Thanks so much for those. Summer is almost here! I have so much summer homework, it's not fair. I would LIKE to be able to finish this story this summer, but if I go on vacation I won't be able to. Anyways, I know you guys don't really care about my ramblings so go on ahead and get to the story. I don't think this is my best work so I encourage you all to be brutally honest. Again, thank you for those reviews, they really motivated me to write. I hope you all enjoy! :)_

* * *

He didn't have any noticeable reaction. "Why do you want to know?"

I shrugged. "Curiosity. I mean, I don't even know how old you are. I want to know what you were like before you were changed too."

He looked at me for a minute and then said, "Okay." He started twirling my hair again. "I wasn't very different before I was changed. At least, I don't think so, personality wise. Most of the changes came with changes in society. For example, women were considered inferior up till very recently. Obviously, I don't think that way anymore."

"Better not," I grumbled.

"You were the one who wanted to know," he said. "Would you like me to stop?"

"No, keep going," I said.

"It was 1605 when I was changed, two days after my eighteenth birthday. My father was a baron, so we were fairly wealthy. He died when I was fourteen. My mother died three years after, and my uncle took in my brothers and me. My uncle loved money; he was much richer than my parents had been. I think he got a lot of his money illegally, but laws were pretty lax for nobles back then."

"This is the uncle who changed you?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Vampires are usually very wealthy. They have unlimited time on earth, so the money accumulates. I don't know the exact details, but some how or another my uncle got involved with a vampire for something cash related. One thing led to another and he got changed."

"And then he just changed you and your brothers on whim?" I asked in wonder.

"Not on a whim. You know vampires usually change family members right?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Well we were the only family he had. My uncle is very flawed, but I can't say he didn't care about us. I don't know for sure what his exact logic was behind changing us, but I think part of it was the health. Mark was sick a lot, remember, health care back then were terrible. He doesn't really talk about why he changed us, even though we've asked about a million times." He stopped talking.

"Does your uncle live like you and your brothers?" I wondered.

Anthony didn't look at me. "No, he doesn't. He's tried persuading us to not live the way we do, but we just ignore him. We only see him a few times a decade."

"Do you wish you weren't changed?" I asked.

"I don't know," he answered. "It's not a terrible existence, just not very fulfilling. Up till very recently there wasn't much reason to go out every morning."

"What's your reason now?" I asked.

He smiled and kissed me softly. "Guess." I blushed and fidgeted. "Any more questions?"

"No, I don't think so," I said.

The bell rang and I swore. "You do know we're going to see each other in the next two classes right?" he reminded me.

"Yeah, but we'll have to pretend to hate each other," I frowned.

He sighed. "We'll figure something out."

I got to class before Anthony and found Ethan waiting for me at my desk. "Hey," he greeted me. He looked at the smile on my face and said, "You're in a good mood."

I nodded. "I had a good lunch."

"Really? What was so good about it?"

"You weren't there," I said playfully. Although, when I thought about it, I really was happy he wasn't there. If he was I wouldn't have been able to see Anthony. I'm such a terrible friend.

"Thanks," he said sarcastically, but he was smiling.

"How was your test?" I asked.

"Not bad. Did you see the vamp at lunch?"

"Yeah, he was around," I said vaguely.

Anthony walked in when the final bell rang. Ethan shot him a glare. Anthony raised an eyebrow and sat down. I gave him an apologetic look, hoping that Ethan wouldn't see.

"All right everyone, sit down," Mrs. Firn said to the class. "You have a quiz tomorrow, so today we're going to review." She went down the rows and handed out a review worksheet. "If you have any questions, you can come up and ask me. If you stay quiet, you can work with a partner. If you don't finish, it's homework."

I turned all of my attention to the paper in front of me. I had to be very careful not to look at Anthony. I motioned to Ethan to come over to my side of the room. "Want to work together?" I asked.

He grinned. "Yeah, sure."

I noticed Anthony's frown at this, but otherwise he had no reaction. Ethan glanced at him. "Do you want to work by my desk?" he asked me.

Ethan sat on the side further away from the teacher's desk, so of course, everyone wanted a seat on that side of the room. "There aren't any more desks," I said.

"But…." He looked at Anthony again and trailed off.

I stared at the fifteen problems on the worksheet. "I really don't feel like doing this," I said.

"We don't have to," Ethan said, "We can just do it for homework. It's not like anyone else is doing it." I looked around at the various kids playing cards and listening to their iPods.

"True," I said, "And I guess this stuff is pretty easy."

He looked at me like I was crazy. "You think this is easy?" he asked. "Oh wait, you like math. Nerd," he added.

I elbowed him in the rib cage. "If you don't want my help…"

"No, I do. I have seventy-eight percent in this class," he said.

I finished my worksheet before anyone else, and then spent the rest of the class going over hyperbolas and parabolas with him.

"I can't believe you're already done," Ethan said. "You really are a nerd."

"Shut up," I said. "You're just jealous because I'm smart. Oh my god, did you know Mrs. Firn asked me if I wanted to be in the mathletes club the other day?"

He started laughing. "What did you say?"

"I said I'd think about it."

He chuckled. "That's like asking someone if they want to go to a Star Wars convention."

"Hey! I like Star Wars," I said.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm not even going to say anything."

"Okay, everyone put the desks back in order. You can pack up now," Mrs. Firn said to the class. I glanced at the clock; we had about two minutes before the bell would ring.

I heard the scraping of the desks across the tile as the class put the room back in order. Anna came up to me after Ethan went back to his seat.

"You guys are really cute together," she said.

I frowned. "What?"

"You and Ethan, hasn't he asked you out yet?" she wondered.

"He's like my brother," I said.

"Mhm, whatever you say," she said skeptically.

As soon as the bell rang, Anthony rushed out of class. I walked with Ethan for a little while and then headed over to English.

I was annoyed to find Michelle sitting in my desk talking to Anthony. Actually, she wasn't talking, she was flirting.

"What are you doing this weekend? I'm having a party, you should definitely come," she told him.

"I think I might be busy," he said.

I went up to her. "Can I have my seat back?" It took a lot of will power for me to not be rude about it.

She looked at me haughtily and then walked back over to her own desk. I looked at Anthony who gave me a smile. I ignored the way my heart fluttered and attempted to focus on what Ms. Carlly was saying. That didn't go too well.

Anthony passed me a note in the middle of class. _Can we meet after school,_ it read.

I wrote: _I have to check with my sister. Maybe._

At the end of the day, I rushed over to Nicole's car, and waited impatiently for her to come. "Hey," she said when she saw me. "You ready to go?"

"I'm staying after school to make up a test. So I'll meet you home, okay?" My lying skills were getting better and better.

"Sure, but try to be there as soon as possible. Remember, Jack and Emily are coming."

"Yeah, I will," I said. I'd actually forgotten about that. My relationship with Anthony was shifting my priorities around, and that wasn't necessarily a good thing. "Oh, and I invited Ethan over, he hasn't seen them in a while either. So if he gets there before I do, tell him I'll be home soon, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," she said.

I met Anthony at his car. I practically ran over to him and he immediately took me in his arms.

"I can only be gone for like an hour or two. I have friends visiting from New York, so I have to get home to see them," I told him.

"Okay, no problem," he said.

"So what exactly are we going to do?" I wondered.

"Would you like to come to my house? My brothers are home, you can meet them properly this time."

I instantly felt butterflies start fluttering around in my stomach. "Would they be okay with that?"

"Of course," he assured me.

He opened the car door for me to get in. I sat down and took a deep breath. The last time I'd seen his brothers, Eric and Mark, I clearly remember glaring them down. I'd probably looked like a mess that day.

"So are you older or younger than your brothers?" I tried to make conversation to calm my nerves.

"I'm in the middle," he answered. "Eric's the oldest and Mark's the youngest."

"And you're absolutely _positive_ they're okay with me being a hunter?" I asked, needing to reassure myself.

"_Yes_ Evelyn, they're fine with it. Even if they weren't, there isn't much they'd be able to do about it. Vampires aren't like hunters, there aren't any rules or higher ranking vamps to enforce any rules," he said.

"I know, but still, I'm just –"

"Paranoid," he finished with a grin.

"Sorry," I said. "I'm just not used to spending time with vampires in a civilized atmosphere. Attacking them is just a part of my nature."

"Well, it's comforting to know that while I'm kissing my girlfriend, she's thinking about killing me," he said.

I smiled. "I didn't mean it like _that._"

He pulled into the driveway of his house. He got out of the car and opened my door for me. I stared at the big house that looked so _normal_. Yet, it seemed intimidating to me now.

"Take a deep breath, and come on," he said.

I worked up some courage to get out of the car. "What if they just don't like me?" I asked him.

He looked at me strangely. "You do things very backwards."

"What?"

"The first time you were at my house, when your powers were drained, you had no problem giving them death stares, even though you thought they would attack you. But now, when I've assured you multiple times that you'll be safe, you're scared to death."

I shrugged. "Fighting vampires is easy. Talking to them, not so much."

He rolled his eyes. "If you don't want to, you don't have to."

I shook my head. "We're already here."

"So you're ready to go in then?"

"I guess." He put his arm around me as we headed inside the house.

He led me to the living room where I saw Eric watching TV. He hit the power button when he saw us walk in.

"Hey, good to see you again," he said to me.

"Hi," I said uncertainly.

"Wow, I never expected a hunter to be shy with a vampire," he teased.

I smiled a little.

"Where's Mark?" Anthony asked.

"Kitchen," Eric answered. "Why don't you go get him? It'll give Evelyn and I chance to get to know each other."

Anthony rolled his eyes. "I'm not leaving her alone with you."

"What do you think I'm going to do? Bite her?" he said with a playful grin.

"Shut up," Anthony said. He started steering me to the kitchen.

"Hey," Mark said when we walked in.

I smiled shyly again, "Hi."

I hugged myself closer to Anthony feeling uncomfortable. I could sense the extreme power the three of them exuded, but after having spent so much time with Anthony, I no longer felt any kind of impulse to kill him; Eric and Mark were a different story.

There was an awkward silence. I looked at Anthony, hoping he would say something to relieve the tension in the room.

Eric saw this and said, "Don't worry; the awkward silence should only last for another minute or so."

I grinned. "That's good to know. I was getting worried for a minute there that it was going to be like this for my entire visit."

"No, we wouldn't do that to you. Actually, we'll leave soon so that you can have your alone time with this idiot over here," he said pointing at Anthony. "I don't know what you see in him. You could do so much better."

Anthony rolled his eyes again. "Okay, maybe you two _should_ get out now."

"Why? Are you afraid we'll start telling her about all the girls you've dated?" Eric asked.

"Were there a lot?" I asked.

Mark snorted. "You have no idea_._"

"Really?" I asked feigning surprise. "Maybe we _should_ get to know each other better."

Mark and Eric grinned. "She's cool," Eric said to Anthony. "I approve."

"Good, now get out," he said.

"Alright, we're leaving," Mark said as the two of them headed out.

"So how many girls have you dated?" I asked playfully.

"You do know they were joking right?" he said.

I shrugged. "How would I know? You _are_ a couple centuries old."

"See how well that went?" he said. "Absolutely no reason for you to be worried."

"Worrying is how I prepare myself for things," I said.

"I've noticed."

He brought me back to the living room. Once, there he leaned in to kiss me. His lips formed around mine and he pulled me closer to him. I felt his fingers brush across my face while he put soft kisses on my neck, and then he moved his lips back to mine.

I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket, completely killing the moment. I pulled away out of breath. Anthony sighed in frustration.

"It's my phone," I said. I pulled it out to read the text message. Anthony wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek.

The message was from Nicole. It read: _I need you 2 teleport 2 me ASAP!_ I frowned at the message, wondering what she would need me for.

"I have to go," I said.

Anthony didn't bother trying to hide his disappointment. "You haven't been here very long," he said.

"I know, but it's an emergency," I said.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," he said. He kissed me again one last time, and then I teleported away.


	14. Chapter 14

_Hello everyone!_ _Thank you so much for all of your nice reviews. They really motivated me to write. Your reviews were so wonderful that I just had to post as soon as possible. My ideas translated into words so much easier for this chapter than a lot of the previous ones. I've just been in the mood to write lately. As always constructive criticism is welcome. I hope you all enjoy the chapter. :D_

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I was disappointed that I had to leave Anthony so soon. However, I never dismissed any of my family's messages as unimportant or second on my list of priorities. I was first and foremost a hunter – even though I'd been slacking on that lately – and when my family told me they needed me, ninety percent of the time, it was for something life or death related.

I concentrated on Nicole. Teleportation usually entailed focusing on the place that you wanted to go to, but if you were powerful enough, you could train yourself to focus on teleporting to specific people, even though it was harder.

I found myself in a park. It wasn't very far from home. I saw Nicole about ten feet away from me; she was crouched over a body. I realized she was trying to heal the person.

I felt uneasy as I walked closer to her. Closer inspection told me that it was a man. I couldn't sense anyone else around, human or vampire.

"Nicky?" I called uncertainly.

"Shhh," she quieted me.

I was finally standing next to her. I looked at the body on the floor and the blood drained from my face when I recognized who it was.

"Jack," I whispered. My legs were ready to give out. I knelt on the floor next to him and Nicole.

His face was strange, pasty white. He'd gotten into a bad fight. Nicole had his shirt open and was holding her left hand over his heart, trying to keep it beating. The tips of her fingers on her right hand were pressed lightly to his forehead trying to stop the blood that was flowing out of it.

There was no point in calling 911 and getting humans involved. If Nicole couldn't heal him, there wasn't anything anyone else could do for him. I took a few deep breaths and let the calm that I was taught since I was little to come over me. It was not the time for crying, even for a friend I'd had since I was five.

I saw that he was barely breathing. Fatigue was plain on Nicole's face as she struggled to keep Jack alive.

"I need you to keep us invisible, in case someone comes," Nicole said. Her voice was weak. She would get really sick if she overworked herself to keep Jack alive.

I was glad for something to concentrate on. I focused my energy on keep us invisible. I didn't teleport us out of here because it would ruin Nicole's concentration, and it seemed her power was the only thing keeping Jack alive.

I don't know how long we stayed there like that. It could have been a few hours or a few minutes. All I thought about was keeping us invisible. I listened closely for other noises, but there was nothing.

Then, it seemed abrupt, but Nicole almost toppled over. Beads of sweat were dripping down her face, and her eyes were half closed.

"He's dead. I couldn't do it," she said softly.

I froze. I didn't believe it. I didn't feel anything. The shock of what happened completely enveloped me. Nicole tried standing up, but she wobbled. I stood quickly and caught her when she fainted.

I teleported the three of us back to my house. No one was home. Having a dead body in my house was not uncommon. I put Nicole on the couch sure that she'd be fine. I didn't even bother trying to call my mom or Cheryl. Instead I called Olivia and Ethan. They both teleported to my house instantly.

"What's wrong?" Ethan asked immediately. His eyes widened at the sight of Jack's pale, limp body.

"Oh my god, Nicole couldn't do it," Olivia said. "Where is she?" Olivia asked unable to take her eyes off of Jack.

"She fainted," I said, my voice was steady, almost normal.  
Ethan came over and hugged me. I didn't push him away. I felt hollow. The comfort was better than just not doing or feeling anything at all.

"How did this happen?" Ethan asked.

Olivia pursed her lips. "It was Lucas," she said grimly.

I could feel the fury building in me. First my father and now one of my best friends, I _hated _him. Finally, some emotion was entering my system.

"Emily and Jack must have sensed him. They saved three human children," Olivia said. "Did you find out from Nicole what happened to her?" she asked me.

I shook my head. "Wasn't she with Jack?"

"Yeah, but she didn't die. At least, as far as we know, she didn't. She either managed to teleport away, or she chased him." Olivia scrunched her eyebrows together.

"Where's Mom and Cheryl?" I wondered.

"Cheryl's trying to find Emily. Mom's going after Lucas," she grimaced.

As if on cue, Cheryl teleported into the room. She didn't have Emily with her. Her blond hair was all over the place, and she had an anxious expression her face.

"I couldn't find her," she said, a bit out of breath. "I want to try to keep looking though if you guys want to help. How's Jack do –"

She stopped talking when she saw the body. She closed her eyes to calm herself. It didn't take long for her to get her usual serene expression back. I resented her for that. While the rest of us were all out of sorts, she was always able to keep her composure. She took after our mother that way.

We heard a distressed moan. Everyone turned their attention to Nicole who looked more beaten up than anybody. Her eyes seemed sunken in and she her whole persona was limp and dejected. She looked around at as all for a moment and then saw Jack's body. Her head hung in shame.

Cheryl immediately went to put her arm around Nicole. "We know you did your best," she said in a soothing voice. "Maybe you should get some more sleep."

"What about Emily?" Nicole's voice was raspy.

Cheryl grimaced for a second, but recovered quickly. "I didn't have much luck today either. I tried following every trail I could find, but I always came to a dead end."

Ethan finally spoke. "Should we keep looking for her?"

"I'd like to," Cheryl said. "But someone should stay with Nicky."

"What? No, I don't need a babysitter," Nicole protested.

"This is big news. Someone needs to contact the Administratio and then deal with all the hunters who are going to be in and out of here. You can't deal with that, you look like you're about to fall over again," Cheryl said using her best, authoritative big sister tone. "_And_, I really don't think vampires would come to our house – since they don't normally attack on our turf – but it's possible that they'll take advantage of the chaos. I'm not leaving you here alone with the risk of that happening while you're so weak."

Nicole's shoulders slumped. "Okay, I'll stay with Evy." She looked at me hopefully. I nodded. I didn't have any particular desire to go out.

"Okay good," said Cheryl. To Nicole she said, "You should get to your bed. You'll be more comfortable." She put her arm around Nicole and led her to her room.

"I'm going to get my knives," said Olivia. "I'll get you some too," she told Ethan, walking out of the room.

"Evy? Are you okay?" Ethan asked me. I was staring at Jack's body. He looked distorted, as though he'd been tortured before the final killing blow. I barely realized it when the tears started running down my face.

Ethan pulled me closer. He rubbed my back in soothing motions, but nothing helped. "It'll be okay," he said. He steered me away from Jack's body.

When we were out of the room, I tried to calm down. I had things to do. I couldn't fall apart. If I fell apart every time I saw someone die, I could never be a hunter. I'd seen death before. I'd seen instances where the victim was more mangled and pitiful than this. But this was the first time I'd actually seen someone I loved die right in front of me.

I was aware of Cheryl's presence when she drifted back to find us, but she kept her distance when she saw our embrace. This act kindness was, of course, impossible for Olivia who marched right up to us.

"I have your knives," she said extending them out to Ethan.

"Thanks." He released me reluctantly to take them. "I could stay with you and Nicole," he offered.

I shook my head. I wasn't in the mood for company, and they really needed to track down Emily. "No, go help."

He hugged me again and then left with my sisters. After they were gone, it took me a full minute to get control of my emotions. I was about to call someone from the Administratio, but I heard Nicole calling my name.

I was anxious when I teleported to her room. "Is something wrong?"

"No, don't look so worried," she said. "I just wanted to run something by you."

I raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

She seemed to need a couple of seconds to collect her thoughts. However, when she finally spoke, I never dreamed that she would say what she did. "Do you think the vamp at school had something to do with this?"

I was _extremely _careful not to let any emotion show on my face. Not that it really mattered, any negative feelings I had she would most likely connect to Jack's death. "Why would you say that?"

"Well, Lucas showed pretty soon after that vamp did. Maybe they're together."

I frowned. "The vamp was in school when Jack was attacked." My voice broke on that last word.

Nicole thought for a minute. "Maybe there are more vampires with him."

Again I frowned. She was right, there _were_ more vampires with him, two more to be exact. And I knew for a fact they weren't involved with Jack's death because they were with me when he was being attacked. Of course, I couldn't actually say that to Nicole, so it didn't really help. "I don't know…"

"I'm not really sure. There's no way for us to be positive without following the vamp, which we should have done ages ago, but there's just so much that's been going on… Anyways, I just wanted you to keep that in mind for when you're in school. I know you have two classes with the vamp," she wrinkled her nose at that thought. "He might be more dangerous than we originally thought."

I nodded. "Okay."

"I'm keeping you back aren't I? You have to call the Administratio?"

"Yeah, I'll do that now."

I called Aurora from the Administratio. I hadn't even finished speaking to her on the phone when she teleported over to my house. From that point she basically took over – which was fine with me. I did odd jobs and played hostess when the hunters were in and out of my house. Aurora called for an immediate meeting of the Administratio. All the members showed up quickly – Rick, Patrick, Darren, Andrew, Kyle, Eileen, Priya, and Sandra – all except one, of course, my mother.

They didn't mind my sitting in on their meeting. They would be sharing this discussion with the rest of the hunting population later anyway. Even if they _did_ have something secretive to talk about, my presence wouldn't have mattered. I was barely able to concentrate on anything they were saying all night.

My mom did eventually show up – at three in the morning. She looked completely worn out; she'd had no success finding Lucas. She spoke with the rest of the Administratio for a few minutes, but it was clear she wasn't really into the conversation. Even she had her limits.

Cheryl, Olivia, and Ethan returned much the same time that Mom did. They hadn't had much better luck than she did either.

I helped my mom get into bed, checked on Nicole one last time, and went to get some shut eye myself.

The next day Nicole was still too bushed to go to school, Ethan was planning to continue helping with the search for Emily, and I was ordered by my mother to attend school. I argued a little, saying that I wanted to help Ethan, but she wasn't having that. I decided not to raise her stress levels any higher than they needed to be.

Nicole let me borrow her car. I could have just teleported – it would be highly unlikely that someone would notice I didn't have a normal form of transportation; humans were so caught up in their own lives – but just in case, I had to keep up with appearances.

At school, I followed my normal routine and went straight for my locker, where I found Anthony lingering. Hormonal teenager that I was, I allowed myself to feel better just by seeing him.

When he was sure that I was alone he came up and put his arms around me. I let myself fall into his embrace, not saying anything.

He looked at my face for a minute and frowned. "Were you crying?" he asked tenderly.

I didn't answer. I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk about this with him. Was it wrong of me to accept and want the comfort of one vampire when just last night another had killed one of my very best friends?

His beautiful blue eyes looked worried. "What happened?"

I took a deep breath. I should have foreseen this little snag in our relationship. However, vampires attacked most of my family and friends on a daily basis and if I couldn't talk to him about it, we couldn't be together.

"One of my best friends died yesterday – that's why I had to leave your house so early. One of my sisters can heal – she was trying to help him – but it didn't work. I actually _saw_ him die. And another one of my friends – his sister – she's missing, and we can't find her. I wanted to help them search for her, but my mom made me come here…" I trailed off. I couldn't talk anymore. My words were coming out broken anyway.

Anthony wiped the tears from my face. "Why didn't you ask to stay home?" he wondered.

I was sniffling. "Because if I stayed home every time someone I knew died, well... I'd be home all the time. The vamp who killed my friend, he was the same one who killed my father."

He was watching me sadly. He hugged me tighter. "Come on," he whispered in my ear.

"Hmm?"

"You shouldn't have to be in school today. We can go to my house; no one's home."

I hesitated. "I don't think I should be skipping school. I've been doing it a lot lately…"

"But this time, you have a legitimate reason," he said.

I didn't have any energy to argue. The idea of avoiding school, where I'd have to keep up with stupid pretenses, was too tempting. I let him take me to his car, not caring who saw us together. There wasn't anyone in school today who would think us being together was a terrible crime.

At his house, he picked me up and carried me up the stairs. I recognized the room he took me to; it was the one I'd woken up in that first time I'd been in his house.

He set me down gently on the bed and kissed me lightly on the cheek. "You should sleep," he said moving his fingers tenderly over the circles around my eyes.

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"I have work to keep me busy. I'll check on you in a little while, okay?"

I didn't think I should have been sleeping. There were so many more useful things I could have gotten done with my time. But my sore, tense muscles were more than ready to relax into the softness of the bed.

"Anthony wait," I stopped him before he left the room. I kissed him and he put his arms around me and held me close for a minute and then let go. "Thanks," I said.

He kissed my forehead. "Sleep." He got up to leave

I drifted into sleep easily and peacefully before he even finished closing the door.

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_I know I have a tendancy to leave horrible and evil cliffhangers, but I didn't think the ending of this chapter was THAT bad._


	15. Chapter 15

_Hello everyone! I'd like to start out by saying that I know I'm completely terrible. I'm aware that it took me a REALLY long time to get this chapter out. Blame the writer's block. Don't worry, I plan on letting my muse know that just because it's summer that doesn't mean it gets to go on vacation whenever it wants. Speaking of vacation, I have bad news for you guys. I'm going away on vacation on Thursday and I'll have very little computer access. So the next chapter won't be out until August. :( I'm sorry. I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to get this chapter out before I left because right now I'm supposed to be grounded from the computer. I'm actually sneaking on right now, so be happy I'm capable of rebelling against my mother. I'm promise I'll do my best to get the next chapter out ASAP. Enjoy!_

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Anthony wasn't there when I woke up. I'd slept peacefully and easily at his house. When I woke up I felt _much_ better. I rolled onto my back and looked at my watch. I flew off the bed when I saw it was noon. I never slept that late.

I stretched and tried to decide on my next move. I had the whole day to myself. I _could_ spend my time looking for Emily or I could spend my time with Anthony. Spending the day with Anthony instantly appealed to me, and I had an excuse for not using my time to look for Emily – several members of the hunting population were looking for her and I might get caught. However, I knew that excuse was just a way to justify it to myself. I _preferred_ the idea of being with Anthony.

I figured that he would be downstairs so I walked out of the room with the intention of finding him. Once in the hallway, I stopped short. My senses flickered. Vampire. It wasn't Anthony or his brothers; this one was weaker.

I saw her. She was thin. Long, messy black hair fell down her back. Her clothes looked old and worn, but she pulled it off in a way that only a vampire could have. She snarled when she recognized me as a hunter. Then, she held my gaze and tried to hypnotize me. She tensed and worry came over her when her little trick failed.

"Juana!" I looked to see Eric coming toward us. She didn't move when he called her name, her eyes stayed on me while I kept myself in position to defend myself if she attacked. "Evelyn, don't worry, she's not going to hurt you," Eric assured me as he approached

I struggled to relax my muscles and calm down.

"I thought you told me there wouldn't be dangers in this house," Juana glared at Eric. "Yet, you have a powerful hunter walking through the halls of her own free will?" There was a faint Spanish accent in her voice.

Eric glared back at her. "Nobody invited you here. You found me and asked to come. Feel free to leave."

"And the hunter?" she asked icily.

"The hunter was invited," I looked up to see that Anthony had come.

Relief washed over me. I'd been feeling uncomfortable just standing there. Anthony came and stood next to me protectively.

"Really? Well this is interesting," Juana mused.

Anthony rolled his eyes. "Come on Evelyn." He started leading me downstairs; I followed mechanically.

I walked toward which ever room he was leading me to lost in thought. I knew he had other vampires at his house from time to time – he'd told me about that himself. So why was it bothering me so much? Because you're hunter, killing vampires is in your nature, a voice in my head responded automatically. I tried to clear my head, but I very easily realized what was bothering me. I didn't want proof that my relationship with Anthony wouldn't work.

"I'm sorry," Anthony said when we were in the kitchen.

"Hmm?"

"She shouldn't be here. I'm glad she didn't try to hurt you," he said. His face looked troubled, and of course, this bothered me.

"This is your house," I reminded him. "And I can take care of myself just fine," I assured him. I saw Chinese food sitting on the granite countertop. "Is that for me?"

He nodded. "Normally, I wouldn't have vampires over while you're here – I don't want you to be uncomfortable." He started playing with my hair. "But Juana, she's different. She helped us a lot when we first changed. Eric insists we owe her, even though I think we paid her back enough a long time ago."

I stopped putting rice onto the paper plate and put my arms around his neck. "It's fine; you shouldn't be so upset. You shouldn't do things differently just because I'm here. Invite all the vampire friends you want."

He caressed my face with the back of his hand. "You should know, I have very few vampire friends. And, in all this confusion, I forgot to ask you how you were feeling."

I gave him a small smile and stood on my tip toes to kiss him on the cheek. "I'm better than I was this morning."

"That's good," he said, hugging me close. "What do you want to do today after you eat?"

"I don't know," I said putting my arms around him so that we were even closer.

"Well, don't you two make a cute couple," Juana said as she walked in the kitchen.

Anthony and I jumped away from each other. I couldn't believe I hadn't sensed her coming.

"What are you doing here?" Anthony asked. He was glowering at her.

"I wanted something to eat," she said simply. "But, I didn't know I would be interrupting anything." She looked at my plate of food. "So, you got food for your little hunter friend but nothing for me?" she asked with false hurt in her tone.

"Where's Eric?" Anthony asked her, ignoring her questions.

"I think he was fed up with me, so he left." She started going through the cupboards and the refrigerator.

"Anthony, can you come here for a minute?" I looked up to see Mark enter the room.

Anthony didn't answer at first. Instead, he looked at me.

"Don't act like you don't know I'm here," Juana said to Mark. "A hug would be nice." She opened out her arms. Mark grimaced at her and then looked at Anthony again.

"Go ahead, I'm fine," I told him. With one last look at Juana he walked out with Mark.

I took one deep breath and then concentrated on the food in front of me. It smelled good, but I when I put it in my mouth I might as well have been eating cardboard. There was no taste. Still, I was determined to ignore Juana. She however, was infinitely curious about me.

For a long time, she just stared at me. Her eyes followed my every movement, from when I flipped my hair to when I put the fork to my mouth.

"So does your family know you're here?" she wondered. I hadn't anticipated that she would talk to me. But, it wasn't very surprising. After the little glimpse of her personality that I'd gotten today, I'd already gathered that she was the type who liked to mess with people's heads.

I wasn't sure whether or not I should ignore her. I didn't want another vampire knowing about the secrets of my life. That was always dangerous.

My silence, however, tipped her off. "I guess I know the answer," she said. "So you're a rebel. How admirable. So what are you going to do? Run away with Anthony after high school? That would be romantic."

Again, I ignored her. No matter, that she was voicing problems that I'd been losing sleep over. Problems that I tried stubbornly to not think about whenever I was with Anthony.

"And you're a powerful hunter too. I can sense it. My being here must be making your blood crawl. How do you resist? Isn't it in your nature to kill?" she wondered.

I frowned at her, finally provoked. "No, it's in _your_ nature to kill. It's in my nature to protect. And as far as I know, everyone in this house is capable of taking care of themselves, so the only thing I have to 'resist' is your voice."

She grinned, glad that she had me talking. "Be careful hunter. I have very powerful friends."

"So do I," I retorted. "And if your 'friends' love you as much as Anthony and his brothers do, I'm really not worried."

Anthony, thank god, finally walked back into the kitchen. He seemed worried to find us glowering at each other.

"I think your taste in women questionable," Juana said to him.

"I don't really care what you think," he said. "Now, Mark is going to take you to get blood. You're not leaving this house by yourself. And remember, if you break the rules once, we will kill you," he warned.

She rolled her eyes. "You all live such strange lives here. It's disappointing. So much power, and you three don't even want to use it." She turned dramatically and headed toward the door. "Oh, can we go shopping? I need new clothes," she said to Mark.

He groaned and looked at Anthony who nodded. "You owe me for this."

Anthony and I looked at each other for a minute. "Did she say anything to you?" he asked.

I shrugged. "She was just trying to provoke me. She didn't really say much." I refused to let him know how much her words bothered me.

"Are you sure? You know, if you don't want her here, I'll talk to my brothers about making her leave," he said.

"No, don't do that. I told you, I don't want everything to change just because I'm here," I said.

"Everything already changed because of you." He smiled. "In a good way."

I looked down and blushed. "So, what now?"

He moved nearer to me. His lips skimmed the side my face, down my cheekbones to my mouth and then back up again to my temple. "Now, we have the whole house to ourselves for the rest of the day."

I remembered Mark's words about Anthony "owing him." "Did you tell Mark to take Juana out of the house?"

He smiled. "I just asked him for a favor."

"Poor Mark," I said.

Again, he smiled. "I think we don't get to spend enough time together. Don't you?"

"Well, yeah, but it's because we're always busy. Actually, I'm always busy. I have no idea what you do with your free time." I realized too late that I was rambling. His lips were still at my face.

"I think about you," he said.

"Because that's not creepy at all," I said, secretly pleased.

He pulled away and grinned. "Why are you still talking?" He leaned in, but this time, his lips met mine. His fingers caressed my face lightly, and then he stopped.

I pouted. "Since when do you stop first?"

"Well, now you know what it feels like," he said with a smile.

He picked me up and carried me to the living room. He set me down on the couch and stared at my face as if searching for something. "You look worried," he said.

I bit my lip. "It's my friend, she's still missing. If they'd found anything my sisters would have texted me. I can't do anything, and I'm worried. And then this sort of my fault."

"I'm pretty sure it isn't," he said.

"Ethan asked me out," I said.

His eyebrows pulled together. I resisted smiling at the fact that he was jealous. "What'd you say?"

"I told him that I had other plans with my friends, Jack and Emily, except that was a lie. So I made my sister call them to make plans so that he wouldn't catch me in the lie. But, if I'd just said no, they'd still be fine in New York," I said.

"Listen to me. It is not your fault. Would it make you feel better to go looking for them?" he asked.

"I don't know. But I can't. My mom already told me not to. I'm supposed to be in school, remember? If any of the hunters see me, I'm screwed." I sighed.

"Want my help?" he asked.

"What?"

"Do you want me to help look for your friend?" I couldn't believe how calm he looked when he asked.

"Are you kidding? You could get hurt," I said.

He rolled his eyes. "Evelyn, let me let you in on a little secret. The thing about us immortals is that we don't 'get hurt' very easily."

"But you still _can_ get hurt. Especially if you go out where there are hunters armed with the most deadly poison we have," I said. "And I know all about immortals. I _am_ immortal."

He raised his eyebrows. "What?"

I frowned. "You didn't know that?"

"No. I've heard rumors, but I didn't think they were true."

I didn't say anything for a moment. Vampires didn't know that hunters were immortal. Therefore, common sense should tell me that letting a vampire in on that little secret would be very, very stupid.

I hesitated. "I probably shouldn't tell you," I said.

He kissed the tip of my nose. I could see the disappointment on his face. He probably thought I didn't trust him. "You don't have to tell me anything."

I sighed. Why was he so nice to me all the time? "We are capable of living forever," I began. He was listening intently. "But, if I was shot, for example, and lost too much blood, I'd die. Of course, we're not an easy kill for humans, but they can still do it."

He nodded. "You know, I'm not going to tell anyone your secrets, right?"

"Yeah, but my mom would still probably disown me if she found out I told them to you," I said.

"She won't find out," he promised.

"Okay, let's not talk about hunters and vampires and powers. I'm so sick of it. I need a break," I said.

"No problem," he leaned in toward me. I forgot everything easily when he kissed me. Way too easily.

He moved away from my lips and put soft kisses all the way down my neck to my collar bone.

"You know, you're really good at this," I said, a little embarrassed that I couldn't keep my voice steady.

He laughed. "Better make the most of it. I don't know when we're going to get all this uninterrupted time again."

"I guess you're right," I said. And this time, I kissed him. I put my arms around his neck and his lips shaped around mine. I moved one of my hands to trace down the muscles on his arm.

For once, I didn't have to care about getting caught or what anybody would think. I was insanely excited. He kept me pressed tightly to him. He smelled so deliciously _good_.

I pulled away, needing to catch my breath. He smiled and moved a lock of hair from my face. His dark, blue eyes were so sweet. I decided something. From now on, everybody else wouldn't matter. He _wasn't _evil. How could he be? It didn't matter that nobody would ever believe me if I said I knew a good vampire. For now, nobody had to know.

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_See? No evil cliffhanger just because I know I won't be able to update for over a month. Aren't I nice? lol, jk. I really am sorry I won't be able to update. I'll see if I can write on the plane, that way I'll just have to type it up when I get back. :D Hope you guys liked it! Remember I love your reviews._


	16. Chapter 16

_HI EVERYONE! I'm back (obviously). And I worked all day to get this chapter done. I'm a little rusty in the writing department now that it's been over a month since I've written anything. Thank you for all those great reviews. You guys are amazing. I can't think of much else to say so I hope you guys like this one. :)_

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**ONE MONTH LATER**

_"Hey there," Anthony greeted me in the school parking lot. I smiled upon seeing him and leaned into his embrace._

_"Hi," I replied feeling content. _

_"Do you want to go out today?" he asked._

_"Sure, where?" I wondered excitedly._

_"Evelyn?" called a disturbingly familiar voice._

_I froze when I heard the voice. This was not happening. We weren't this careless. I looked up to see Anthony looking at me sadly, and then I turned to face Ethan._

_I couldn't hide my guilt from him. He looked furious. For a full minute no one moved. Then, all of a sudden, Ethan and Anthony were fighting. I'd almost missed the exact moment when Ethan attacked Anthony. I wanted to run between them, but I couldn't move._

I woke up feeling disoriented and upset. Maybe the fact that my relationship with Anthony hadn't been discovered by anyone so far was making us sloppy. It was possible that my dream meant something. It could be that the cosmos were trying to warn me so I _wouldn't _be caught. Or perhaps it being three o'clock in the morning was making think weird thoughts. I managed to fall back asleep and convince myself for the time being that it was just a bad dream.

I woke up again at a reasonable hour, and of course the first thing that came to mind was my dream. Maybe I was paranoid, but a month without getting caught was more than I'd dared to hope for.

My life at home had been busy. We still have no idea where Emily or Lucas is. Lucas disappearing isn't so surprising. He's been in hiding for years, but Emily is another story. No one has had success at finding her. In the beginning, I panicked a little about this, and it may have freaked Anthony out a bit, but I made sure to get a solid promise from him that he wouldn't interfere. I didn't want him mixing with the hunters' world; he could get hurt.

Today, Ethan picked me up for school. A month of my indifference to his crush hadn't made him any less persistent. I felt guilty about it sometimes, but there really wasn't much that I could do about it.

We traded ideas about where Emily and Lucas were located as Ethan walked me to my locker. On the way there, we walked past Anthony. Ethan shot him a glare and I urged him to walk faster.

"You know," started Ethan, "all this business with Lucas and Emily hasn't given us any time to deal with that vamp. He really shouldn't have been in school so long."

"What do you think we should do?" I asked, keeping a straight face.

"I think we should kill him as soon as possible. It's the simplest and the easiest solution," he said with a determined tone.

"Easy? Haven't you sensed how powerful he is? Killing him will be anything but easy. And don't you think it's weird that he hasn't caused any problems since he's been here?" I asked.

Ethan's eyebrows pulled together as he thought about that. "Hmm, I wonder if he's planning anything. Think he could be in league with Lucas?"

"No," I answered a bit too quickly.

Ethan looked at me strangely for a moment and then asked slowly, "why not?"

"Because when my dad died, my mom studied and analyzed every move Lucas made. He always works alone. He likes to work alone. Even when it would be easier or more beneficial to work with another vamp he prefers to be by himself," I said evenly. At least what I was saying was true.

Later, in Trig, I noticed Anthony was missing. In the middle of class I received a text message from Anthony.

It read: "I need to see you. Can you skip English and come to my house?" I sent my "yes" to him and anxiously waited for Trig to be over.

I said a quick goodbye to Ethan and once everyone was out of sight I teleported to Anthony's house. I walked into the living room and was surprised to find Juana sitting with Anthony. She'd been here a whole month now, and she didn't show any intention of leaving. She had the strangest grin on her face which made me uneasy. Juana seemed to be happiest when I was upset. I grew even more worried when I noticed the grim look on Anthony's face.

"What's the big emergency?" I asked walking in. "And how come you weren't in class today?"

Anthony took a deep breath. "It's about your friend Emily," he started.

I tried to process that in my head for a moment. "What about her? And I thought I asked you to not get involved?"

Juana's smile grew wider. "Oh, don't worry; he wasn't disobeying any orders. I was the one who found your friend."

"You found her?!" I asked excitedly. "Where? What happened? Is she okay? And I don't give him orders I –" I stopped midsentence sensing something new.

There was another vampire in the house and it wasn't one of Anthony's brothers. This was a new, turned very recently.

"I told you she'd sense her," Juana said knowingly to Anthony.

Anthony stood up and went over to hug me. "Listen, don't panic, okay?"

"Someone else is here," I finally acknowledged out loud.

"Evelyn," a familiar voice said to me.

My mouth dropped open, and Anthony hugged me tighter. "Emily," I whispered. "You're a _vampire_." I'd said the words with enough distaste to feel Anthony stiffen from behind me and to notice the frown on Juana's face. However, shock prohibited me from giving apologies. "I don't understand," I said. "What happened?"

"I wish I could remember," Emily answered. "I remember being with Jack, and then he made me leave." She was quiet for a moment, and then she started again. "There was this female vamp. I can't even remember what she looked like. I think I hit my head. I woke up almost a week later. And when I woke up I was a vampire. I was in an abandoned house, and no one was there."

I couldn't do anything but stare at her disbelievingly. She looked like one big mess. Her red hair was frizzy and it stuck out in all different directions. Her clothes were dirty and ripped. Still though, despite all this, she had a vampire's beauty. She was very pretty prior to the change, but now there was that undying, unnatural splendor that all vampires had in her. I also noticed her dark green eyes had that captivating look that always drew humans in.

I tried to organize all my questions and comments in my head, but it was all a messed up jumble. "We were looking for you all month. And what female?"

"That wouldn't have worked. You guys were tracking me as a hunter, not a vampire," she explained. "I didn't know what to do. If I went back I knew I'd be killed. I thought about killing myself, but I couldn't go through with it. I refused to drink human blood, but then when I was so hungry, I realized I could drink from animals. And I can't remember anything about the female, just that she had brown eyes, and I know that's not very helpful."

She stopped talking and Anthony picked up. "I took Juana hunting. We ended up not too far from Emily, we sensed her, and that's when I brought her here."

"Evy, he told me how it's possible to be a vampire and not be evil. I can do it. I don't want to die," Emily said almost desperately. Her eyes were begging for me to understand.

I knew what the Administratio would think. She was being weak. Vampires normally didn't turn hunters. It was very rare for them to do so. When they did, those former hunters either killed themselves out of disgust, or the Administratio killed them. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. There wasn't any record of a hunter turned vampire living more than a few months. "It's okay," I said after a while. "I understand."

She smiled at me brightly. "Anthony said he'd help me." Then she seemed to notice for the first time that Anthony was actually hugging me, and I wasn't making any effort to get away. "How exactly have you been keeping that from everybody?"

"I'm good with secrets," I said. "Which is lucky for you because now I have to keep your secret too," I said playfully.

"I don't want you to be in trouble because of me. Make sure and tell me about any problems; I'll turn myself in."

"I'd never let you do that," I told her.

"Why don't you get cleaned up?" Anthony suggested. "I'm sure Juana has clean clothes that would fit you."

Emily nodded. "Okay," she paused, "and by the way, thanks for everything."

"Don't worry about it," he said.

I sighed and turned to Anthony. Juana just sat there staring distastefully as Emily walked away. "How is it that you don't mind housing the former hunter who would have loved to kill you just one month ago, but you consider _me_ a huge thorn in your side?" she asked Anthony.

"Because you're annoying," he answered bluntly. "Now, could you please leave?"

"Oh sure, I'll give you two lovebirds your time alone," she said getting up.

Once she was out of the room, I stood on my tiptoes to give Anthony a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for helping my friend."

"It's no trouble," he said.

"I wonder how come she can't remember anything," I said.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. It's pretty common for us. I don't think there's a single vampire out there who can remember exactly what happened while he was being changed. Add that to the fact that she hit her head…"

I leaned against him. "Why is my life so complicated?"

"I think most the complications are my fault," he said. "Sorry."

I shook my head. "You make my life happier; if that comes with complications then I'll take them." I looked at my watch. "You know what? I don't think I'll go back to school for the rest of the day. Too many things on my mind to concentrate anyway."

"Would you like for me to help you take your mind off those things?" he asked with a smile.

Before I could even say anything he leaned in and kissed me, and of course I forgot about all my new problems. Embarrassingly, Eric and Mark walked in on us.

"Whoa, sorry," said Eric, playfully shielding his eyes. I looked down wishing that my blush wouldn't be so obvious. Anthony didn't seem bothered at all. "Didn't you say there was something important you wanted to talk to us about?" Eric wondered.

"Yes, remember what I told you about Evelyn's missing friend?" Anthony started. Eric and Mark nodded. "Juana and I found her today. She's a vampire now." Eric and Mark's eyes widened at this piece of information.

"And what do you think about that?" Mark asked me.

I bit my lip and then answered honestly. "I'm not sure yet."

"Fair enough," he said. "And let me guess, you offered to help her," he said to Anthony.

"Yes," Anthony confirmed.

Eric shrugged. "Okay, no problem. And speaking of houseguests, am I the only one here who thinks that Juana has overextended her stay?"

"You were the one who invited her," Mark reminded him.

"I didn't invite her, she invited herself," Eric corrected.

"This is irrelevant," Anthony cut in. "The only thing that matters is who is going to kick her out."

Juana walked in the room that moment with her haughty, I'm queen of the world look. "You know it hurts that you let the hunter participate in your family meetings, but you don't even let me know when they're taking place."

Eric sighed. "What do you want Juana?"

"I just wanted to see you. I heard you come in, but you didn't even bother to say hello," she said.

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered walking away.

Anthony took my hand and led me away. Once we were safely away from the crowd he kissed me again. "I love you," he whispered his lips brushing lightly against mine.

I froze for a moment. Neither of us had said that before. He was kissing my neck now, making it very difficult for me to wonder why we hadn't said it before. "I love you too." Why did my voice have to be so shaky?

I could feel his lips form into a smile on my skin. The moment was ruined two seconds later when Juana barged. "Your friend wants to see you," she informed me.


	17. Chapter 17

_Hi everyone! I want to start by saying that I know you all are wonderful and I'm absolutely terrible. I really did intend to update sooner. In my defense I was grounded and Breaking Dawn came out (it was AMAZING) and I had more summer homework than you could ever imagine and then school started so I've been pretty busy. Anyway, I'm done with my excuses now. I want to thank all of you SOOOOOOOOOO much for all of your really great reviews. You're the best! I hope you enjoy chapter 17!_

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I headed upstairs to see Emily. She looked much more civilized with combed hair and clean clothes. She was staring at herself in the mirror as if she'd never seen her reflection before. Although, I guess the new face would take some adjusting to.

"Juana said you wanted to see me?" I said when I entered the room.

"Should I be doing this?" she asked immediately. "I mean this vampire thing really isn't suitable for a _vampire hunter_," she paused and then corrected herself, "former vampire hunter."

"It's not like you're going to be killing anybody," I tried to sooth her. "Anthony and his brothers will help you." She made a face at my words. "What?" I asked.

"How well do you know them?" she asked carefully. "Why do you trust them? I know they've said they haven't done anything evil, but anyone could say that."

It took great feats of effort to not be angry and remember she was going through a tough time. "They've already helped you this much haven't they?"

"I know, but I've spent my whole life being taught and believing that they're pure evil…" she trailed off lost in her own thoughts.

I wondered if she heard the hypocrisy in her words. "You do know that _you're_ a vampire now right?"

To my horror she started crying. I was never the most comforting of people. And I definitely never knew what the right things to say were. "Emily it'll be okay. Everything will be fine," I repeated the words over and over while her tears continued to fall freely.

"No it won't," she said after a while. "My own parents would have me dead if they knew what I was."

I didn't know what to say and I was certain my empty words weren't doing much so I just sat with her in companionable silence until she calmed down. When she seemed to relax a little, I started to explain myself. "Anthony and his brothers have been here for a while now. They haven't caused one bit of trouble. Their record is so spotless that the hunters have all but forgotten about them. I've been dating Anthony for a month now. Believe me, you can trust them."

She bit her lip. "Okay, I guess I don't really have a choice. But I still have no idea how I'm going to do this. I've lived my whole life thinking of them as the 'eternally damned' and whatnot. Now I'm one of them."

"You're not damned. Things are just different now," I said still trying to comfort her.

She sighed and continued to stare at herself in the mirror. "We should go downstairs now, right?"

"Yeah, you can meet Anthony's brothers," I said.

She nodded. "Hey, who's that bitter chick that keeps hanging around all the time? She looks a little familiar…"

"Oh, she's Juana. Anthony and his brothers knew her from a _long_ time ago. She's kind of overextended her stay. I've learned the best thing to do is ignore her."

"But she's not a good vampire, I mean that's obvious. Doesn't she cause trouble?" Emily worried.

"No, well actually, yes she does cause trouble, but not the kind you're thinking about. One of the rules Anthony and his brothers have when other vamps stay with them is no killing humans," I assured her.

"Okay, I guess I should go meet them now." She looked impossibly nervous. It wasn't all that surprising. She'd been a very formidable hunter, having to meet with vampires on friendly terms was all but impossible for her to imagine.

Anthony, Eric, Mark, and Juana were all muttering to each other. Their conversation stopped the instant they realized Emily and I were in the room.

When Eric saw Emily he his eyes widened a bit and he jumped up to meet her. In turn, she recoiled from his sudden movement. He stopped abruptly and put a very friendly smile on his face. "Hello, I'm Eric Carson," he introduced himself holding out his hand.

Very tentatively, Emily shook it. "I'm Emily Sanders," she said. I was very proud of her; she even managed a small smile.

Mark stood up too. "Mark Carson," he said, "nice to meet you."

She nodded. "You too."

Juana was scrutinizing Emily from head to toe. "I'll be expecting those clothes back," she said.

Anthony glared at her. "Don't worry about it," I said to Emily. "I'll bring you some of my clothes until you can go shopping."

She nodded. Her body seemed to become more and more tense as the seconds passed by. I also noticed that Eric seemed unable to keep his eyes off of her.

I glanced at my watch. "I think I should go home now." I looked at Emily. "I really wish I didn't have to leave you alone tonight."

She gave me a brave smile. "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine. I have your phone number if I need to call you or I could always just teleport –"

She stopped talking. If a hunter turned into a vampire, that hunter lost his or her powers.

She composed her face and gave another small smile. "I'll be fine," she repeated, only this time it sounded like she was trying to convince herself of that fact.

I gave her a hug before I walked to the door. "I'm really glad you're okay," I said. "Don't worry, for now I'll make sure no one finds you and we'll figure something out from there."

Anthony followed me to the foyer. "She'll be fine," he promised me.

I nodded. "Life just keeps getting more and more difficult," I said.

He pulled me into his arms and kissed my cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I teleported home and found my sisters in the midst of making plans to look for Emily.

"I think we need to stop thinking about the possibility that she's dead," Olivia was saying. "It's been how long now? We still haven't found her."

Nicole was shaking her head. "Even if she's dead, what about the body? Vampires don't usually hide hunters' bodies when they kill them."

"Both of you make a good point, but the only thing we can be sure of is that we don't have enough information to make any assumptions," Cheryl said.

"This is hopeless, we have _nothing_ to work with," Olivia complained.

"So do you want to give up then?" Nicole asked coldly.

"I want to do something else besides teleporting around the world aimlessly to try and find someone who can't be found," Olivia said exasperated.

"Relax guys, maybe you need a break Olivia," Cheryl stopped the fight. "There's still that vampire at Nicole and Evelyn's school who needs to be dealt with. I'd almost forgotten about him. Ethan reminded me today."

"Hey, guys," I interrupted them.

"Evelyn, do you want to help Olivia with that vamp from your school or do you want to help us find Emily?" Cheryl asked me.

Hmm, hunt down my boyfriend to the death or find my newly turned vampire friend who would be killed the instant the hunters found out about her? Interesting choice.

"I'm really tired and I have a lot of homework," I said vaguely, hoping that my excuses weren't too lame.

Nicole was watching me strangely. "You want to do _homework _in stead of hunting?"

"Well I don't _want_ to," I corrected. "I don't know, I think I just need a break."

"What've you been doing lately?" Olivia asked suspiciously. "You haven't been around the house much, and Ethan said he hasn't been seeing you much."

I sighed. Of course Ethan would've noticed that we weren't hanging out as much as we used to. I was going to have to make it up to him…

"I know what you're doing," Nicole said.

With some effort I was able to keep my face perfectly blank. She couldn't really know the truth. "What?"

"You've been avoiding Ethan," she said. I made my face fall with a you-got-me look of guilt plain on my face. She smiled triumphantly.

"I just can't believe you two haven't started going out yet," Cheryl murmured, scanning a map to try and decide where to look for Emily next.

"Oh. My. God. Will you people please just listen to me? I do not now, nor will I _ever_ like Ethan like that. He's not my type," I said hoping that I was getting my point across.

"So then what is your type?" Olivia wondered. "You've had what, all of zero boyfriends?"

My type? A hot, brown haired, blue eyed vampire they intended to kill as soon as possible. Of course, I didn't say that, I merely shrugged and wished they would drop the subject. From the look on Olivia's face it didn't look like I was going to get my wish.

Fortunately, at that moment, my mom teleported into the room. "Lucas is back," she said.

My sisters and I looked at each other worriedly. "How do you know?" Cheryl asked.

"He murdered two girls near that Pizza Hut by Rick's house," my mom answered. "Now, listen to me. I want you all to be _very_ careful when you go out. If at all possible, hunt in groups or pairs. The Administratio thinks that he could stay around for a while."

We nodded. "Are you going to hunt him?" I asked.

"Yes, and I want you all to put your search for Emily on hold for a while," she said.

As a group we frowned. "Why?" Cheryl asked.

"Just listen to me," and with those final words she walked out of the room with an air of mystery.

"I wonder if she knows anything new about Emily?" Cheryl mused.

I began to worry. What if the Administratio knew about her being a vampire? I tried to calm myself down. Surely they couldn't know _everything_. But they could suspect…

"She probably does," said Olivia.

"Maybe she thinks it's too gory for us," Nicole speculated. The rest of us gave her a look of disbelief. "It was just a thought," Nicole defended herself. "But yeah, I know, not likely…"

Ava Sinclair was a wonderful woman, and an absolutely amazing hunter. But she wasn't exactly known for her tenderness. Hunters' children led anything but sheltered lives.

My cell phone rang interrupting my troubled thoughts. A glance at the caller ID told me it was Ethan. I answered quickly remembering my promise to myself to make up for basically ignoring him for a month.

"Hey Ethan," I said.

"Hey, what's up? Did you hear about Lucas?" he asked.

"Yeah, my mom just told me," I said.

"You want to go hunting?" he asked the question tentatively. Had I really been rejecting him that much?

"Sure," I said enthusiastic. It had been a long time since I'd been out on a regular hunting trip where everything went as planned.

"Cool, I'll meet you at the mall in ten minutes," he said the relief and surprise at my enthusiasm clear in his voice.

"Okay," I agreed, "see you there."

I teleported to the mall soon after that. I did some window shopping while I waited for him to show up. It wasn't very long after that I spotted Anthony.

He was with Juana who had numerous shopping bags in her hands. His face was annoyed as he followed her around. I remembered his and his brothers' rules about not letting Juana go anywhere by herself. When he saw me his lips turned up in a smile. Juana, however, did not look as pleased.

"Hi," he said to me. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing really, just waiting for Ethan." I saw his eyebrows pull together for about half a second before he composed his face.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Juana wanted to go shopping," he said miserably. We both looked at her standing about twenty feet away tapping her foot impatiently.

"Aw, I'm sorry," I reached out and playfully patted his shoulder.

He took my hand and kissed it. He kept it to his lips and then he kissed my wrist.

"Hey, I needed to tell you," I said suddenly remembering. "I _think _some hunters might suspect that Emily's been turned into a vampire, but I don't know for sure. Either way, my mom asked me and my sisters to not look for her for a while. And if their focus isn't on Emily it'll go back to you, which could lead to Emily and you dying. And speaking of Emily where is she?" I looked around wildly.

He put one finger over my lips. "Would you please relax? I can take care of myself. Emily's with Eric, she's fine. Listen, if your family becomes a problem I'll just move farther away."

I frowned. "I don't want you to move."

He smiled. "We don't need to worry about that now." His lips weren't over mine for more than two seconds before we both pulled away sensing another presence.

Standing not so far away Ethan was staring at us dumbfounded.


	18. Chapter 18

_I know it's been forever since my last update, and I'm sorry about leaving such a terrible cliffhanger and not updating for long, but I've just been so BUSY. Right now, I'm neglecting my studying and homework to do this, so be happy. If I was being responsible, I'd wait till tomorrow to post this. Anyway, I don't think I can tell you guys how amazingly WONDERFUL you all are. Your reviews are just so nice. I was just reading through them today, and I felt so bad about taking so long to update. This was, of course, what prompted me to be irresponsible and finish this chapter instead of doing my homework. So THANK YOU soo much for taking the time to review. I really appreciate it. Now you can all head on to the chapter. I hope you guys like it. :D_

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I jumped three feet away from Anthony, people stared at me. My heart was thumping painfully in my chest. Ethan only needed a few seconds to collect himself. After those few seconds, his expression became murderous.

We'd been stupid of course. Very, very extremely, without a doubt, stupid, a month without problems had made us careless. I had _known_ Ethan would be coming here, but did I consider that when I rushed like an overexcited teenager? No, of course not. Don't get me wrong, I'm fully aware that I am an overexcited teenager, but as a hunter, I'm not supposed to act like one.

I was hyperaware of the very crowded mall. I imagined that it would be somewhat regrettable for the supernatural world if Ethan decided to start a vampire hunter versus vampire fight.

Anthony was moving away from me slowly, obviously trying figure out what his best move should be. He glanced at me a few times trying to see what I wanted.

"Ethan," I said softly, slowly walking toward him.

He didn't move. He didn't appear to have heard me; he kept his eyes locked on Anthony. He was probably weighing the pros and cons of attacking Anthony in his head.

"Ethan," I repeated trying to be gentle. "There are people here. Let's go." I indicated toward the security guard who'd obviously noticed the look on Ethan's face.

I pushed at his chest a little bit to get him moving. I mouthed "I'll call you" to Anthony and led Ethan away. Still standing in the same spot from when I'd first seen Anthony was Juana with an expression of shameless, uncontained glee. I wanted to slap her.

I was surprised that Ethan let me take him away from Anthony, and even more surprised that he didn't complain as I did it. I took him to the exit toward the back parking lot, looked around the deserted place, and teleported away.

I took him to my house which was thankfully, but not surprisingly empty. And that was when the rage was unleashed.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" he hissed.

It took a lot to look him in the eye. No matter what, Ethan was never, ever angry with me. It threw me off. The several excuses that I'd been contemplating left my head, leaving me feeling defenseless.

"I don't want to know how long you've been lying to me," he continued, "but don't lie to me now. Don't say you were hypnotized or that he kissed you and he was too strong for you to pull away or any crap like that because I saw you _kiss him back_."

Damn, those were good excuses, not that I could use them now. He was looking at me sourly obviously waiting for my brilliant explanation.

When I didn't say anything he continued his tirade. "Are you stupid? Or do you have a death wish? He could _kill you_. Did you think about that? But you probably don't care about that; did you think that he could kill the rest of us? Or do you not care about us either?"

"What?" I finally found my voice. "I'm not stupid or and it's not that I don't care," I said bitterly. Yes, it's not right for me to be angry. And I knew it wasn't helping my cause, but I was the youngest of my family, the screw up, I did and said things that I regretted every single day.

"Then why the hell were you making out with a _vampire_?" Ethan roared, raising his voice for the first time.

I flinched back, reevaluating the consequences of my temper. "Ethan, I wouldn't do anything to hurt anybody, not on purpose."

He looked at me and I saw how obviously I had hurt him. "You _like _him?" he asked with a desperate hope in his eye for me to say no.

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I do."

He sucked in some air. "He's a killer. He's evil," Ethan broached this topic more calmly, clearly hoping to appeal to my sense of reason. "Haven't you ever thought about how many people he's killed?"

"Zero," I said instantly. "He's never killed anyone in his life."

"Oh, is that what he told you?" Ethan asked with a bitterly skeptical look.

"He uses animal blood, and when he takes it from humans, he doesn't kill them, he's good," I maintained.

"You have no way of knowing that he's telling the truth," he threw back at me.

"He's been here for over a month now, and he hasn't done anything," I said.

"He probably goes somewhere else to hunt then, somewhere not close enough for us to track him," Ethan said firmly refusing to take what I was saying into consideration.

"That doesn't make any sense!" I was starting to lose my temper. "Why would he come here to live if he had to go somewhere else to eat?"

"So that he could find out about us Evelyn! Why can't you see it?" Ethan was frustrated.

"You know what? It's nice that you think I'm an idiot. That I would just let myself fall for any vampire without thinking about what I was doing." I was glaring at him now, openly showing my fury.

"Of course you fell for a vampire without thinking about what you were doing! How else would you fall for one? Think about it. You're one of the most powerful younger hunters out there. Your mother is on the Administratio. What better way would there be to find out about us?" He ranted.

"I know what I'm doing."

"No you don't," he disagreed.

"So now you're going to tell on me," I said resigned. "You're going to tell on me, and I'll get disowned, or beaten bloody, or buried alive, I don't know what the punishment will be, but I can trust my mom to make sure it's painful."

Ethan rolled his eyes and just stared at me for a minute. "I didn't say I was going to tell anybody."

My mouth fell open. "What?" I gasped.

"I won't tell anyone if you stop seeing him," he said watching me carefully.

I hesitated and he noticed.

"Damn it Evy, I don't want you to get in trouble," he said exasperated.

"Well that's easy, just don't tell anybody. Problem solved," I said.

He rolled his eyes. "You think I'm just going to let you-"

I cut him off. "You don't get to 'let' me do anything. You're not my father; I can do whatever I want." Again with the temper, still not helping the cause, but sometimes I just can't resist.

"Evelyn, I just don't want him to kill you," he slowly, as if he was explaining to a child why they couldn't have a snack before dinner.

"He's not going to," I said just a slow, hoping for it to sink in. "He's not going to hurt any of us," I said confidently.

Ethan just looked at me. His eyes had narrowed at the obvious conviction in my voice. And then, "Prove it."

"Excuse me?"

"Prove that he won't hurt anybody. Let me meet him." I couldn't believe how calmly he was saying this. "You look pretty worried," Ethan said triumphantly.

"I'll only introduce him if I know _you _won't hurt _him_," I said.

He looked me square in the eye and said, "I promise not to hurt him."

"Okay, but what if you meet him and you decide that you don't like him. You're pretty biased," I said worrying.

"I'll try to keep an open mind," he assured me.

"Yeah, right."

"I will," he said. "And, if he's as good as you say he is, I'll even cover for you."

I looked at him suspiciously. "Really?"

He nodded and teleported away.

I was left standing in my living room confused. Was it possible that I might actually get away with this?

As soon as I thought about that, I laughed at myself. Even if Ethan didn't attack Anthony, there was no way he was just going to stand by and let me date him.

I flipped open my cell phone and called Anthony. He answered on the first ring.

"Evelyn, is everything okay? I'm so sorry. I should-" his words were rushed.

"It's fine, I think," I cut him off. "We _might_ be able to work something out here," I said daring to be hopeful.

"Really?" he asked sounding incredulous and relieved at the same time. "I didn't know if I was going to hear from you again."

"Well, basically, Ethan gave me two choices. One, I break up with you," there was silence on his end of the phone. I remained quiet as well thinking about the best word choice to use to continue.

"And two?" Anthony asked emotionlessly.

"Two is he meets you and decides on whether or not your good," I said.

Again silence.

"Well?" I prodded. I wasn't entirely sure what kind of answer I was expecting. Did I want him to say "sure I'll meet the hunter who'd give anything to kill me?"

"I'll meet him, if you want to do this. If you trust him," he answered.

I bit my lip and considered. "I don't think he'd lie to me, but he _is _pretty overprotective," I said.

"It's your call," Anthony said. "I'll do whatever you want."

"Well, he already knows everything, so we might as well do everything we can…" I trailed off.

"Okay," Anthony agreed immediately, still sounding emotionless, but I thought I heard a little relief in his voice.

"Can I come over?" I asked. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with myself. Right now things were too confusing.

"Of course," he said. "When do you want to come?"

I teleported to his house while he was still speaking. "Hey," I said.

He turned around with the phone still at his ear. "Oh," he smiled at me and closed his phone. "There you are."

He reached over and hugged me. I sighed and leaned against him. He kissed my hair, and we just stayed like that for the longest time.

"Everything's going to be okay you know," he assured me.

"Yeah, let's see you say that tomorrow when you have to meet Ethan," I said.

He raised his eyebrows. "Why? Should I be afraid?" he asked playfully.

I sighed again. "Why don't you ever take these things seriously?"

"Because you worry enough for the both of us," he answered.

"Yeah, thanks."

He grinned. "It _will_ be okay though."

"Wow, you two are still a couple. I thought your hunter guy would've broken that up by now," Juana walked in on us _again_.

"Ugh," I rolled my eyes. I didn't mean for her to see, but apparently today was my day to be unintentionally conspicuous. She frowned at me.

"Hey Anthony, we need to talk," Eric and Mark walked into the room.

"Where's Emily?" I asked.

"She's in her new room," Eric answered. "She wanted to be alone for a while."

I used my hunting senses – which, I have to admit, I'd been neglecting for a while – and sure enough, I could feel another vampire, a new one, in the house.

Anthony leaned over and kissed my forehead. "I'll be right back," he said. With a quick glare at Juana, he walked out with his brothers.

"Are you an idiot?" Juana asked when the boys were out of the room.

"Excuse me?" I asked. I could feel my temper building up. If I wasn't careful, my natural vampire hunting instincts might get the better of me. Although, it was possible that mine weren't so natural. After all, I was able to throw those supposed "natural instincts" aside to date a vampire so…

"You _just_ got caught, not even an hour ago. By some stroke of luck that stupid, lovesick hunter didn't go running to tattle, but really! Why are you here?" She looked at me sourly.

"What is your problem?" I asked annoyed. Why did this have to be her day to pick a fight with me? As if I wasn't already in a bad enough mood.

"My problem? Only that a vampire hunter is at my house every day!" She looked furious.

"I'm sorry, did you say at _your_ house? Do the Carsons know that you made your stay permanent?" I could feel the rage building up.

"Oh, believe me, I'm going to be here a lot longer than you are," she said viciously.

"Yeah, whatever," I said.

"Don't you have a life? Something better to do with your time?" she asked looking at me with contempt.

"Do _you _have a life? Why do have to barge in every time I'm with Anthony?" I said. Now, I was definitely furious.

"Because you two are disgusting to look at. Just because Eric and Mark are so lenient doesn't mean that anyone else will be. Do you know what other vampires would think?" she threw questions at me.

"Why the hell would I care about what other vampires think? Even Anthony doesn't care about what other vampires think," I said. However, damn her, I was thinking about it now. What _would_ they say? I'd thought a lot about what the other hunters would do if they found out about us – they'd freak out for sure – but I'd never considered what the vampiric world would think.

"And then," she was ranting now, "you have to go and have your friend come here, but of course Anthony welcomes her with open arms – anything for his oh so _precious_ Evelyn."

My mouth hung open a bit as I put two and two together. "You're jealous," I said.

"What?" she glared at me furiously.

"You're jealous that Anthony and his brothers want Emily here more than they want you," I said smiling a little at the way her face contorting.

"You just think you have it all figured out don't you? You never think about all the things Anthony hides from you," she said grinning maliciously.

"Anthony doesn't hide anything from me," I said immediately.

"Then why did he leave the room to go talk with Eric and Mark?" she asked, her grin widening.

"To get away from you," I said.

"Cocky, are we?" she said still with a look of great happiness. "Did you ever think it was to get away from you?"

"Evelyn!" we both turned to see Emily coming down the stairs. "How come you're back?" she looked excited and relieved to see me.

"It's a long story," I said. "I'll tell you about it later. I was just finishing something up with Juana."

"Oh don't worry about me," she said with that sickening smile still on her face. "I don't have anything else to say. You just try asking Anthony what it was he left to talk about."

I hated the way she could plant those seeds of doubt in my head.


	19. Chapter 19

_Hey guys! Thank you for your wonderful reviews. I know I haven't been updating as often as I used to, but it's because I've been so busy. You know school and clubs and I'm a beta reader now! It's so much fun, but it does take up some of my time. Anyway, I've been thinking, and I'm not a hundred percent sure if I'll follow through with this, but I think I might need a beta reader of my own. I do have a friend who reads my work, and she's really good about giving an honest opinion, but we're both so busy this year. I looked through the beta reader feature that the site has, and well if my username hasn't given it away, let me tell you I'm VERY indecisive, so I just couldn't pick one. So I thought the best person to beta for me would be one of my readers. So if anybody's interested let me know. I'm also going to ask my readers over at . There are perks to being my beta, you'd get to see the chapters early :D and maybe be a little bit more of an insider when it comes to the plot, so my cliffhangers won't be so annoying. The reason I'm considering getting a beta is because I want to improve my writing so I need some good feedback and also because whenever I read through past things I've posted I find annoying little grammar errors and typos that I've missed. Anyway, I'm not sure yet, but if you're interested let me know. Enjoy the chapter!! Sorry for the long author's note. You guys are the best!_

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Emily and I watched as Juana sauntered out of the room with her stupid grin.

"What was that about?" Emily asked.

I sighed. "Nothing, she's just trying to get on my nerves."

"You okay?" Emily asked looking concerned.

"It's just stress," I said dejectedly. "Ethan found out about Anthony and me."

Emily's eyes widened. "What? How? Is he going to tell anybody?"

I bit my lip. "I'm not really sure. He wants to meet Anthony. He said if Anthony can prove he really is good, then he won't tell on me. Don't worry about that though, I'll deal with it. He doesn't know anything about you. And, if a miracle happens and he does end up thinking Anthony's good, maybe I'll be able to tell him about you."

"That'd be nice," she said smiling. "But, honestly, I'm not going to get my hopes up."

"Yeah, I know, me either."

The boys walked back into the room. "Hey there, you're out of your room. Do you need anything?" Eric asked Emily. He had a giant grin on his face.

She shook her head, but gave him a small smile. "I'm fine."

Of course, Juana had to show up. "How come you're never that happy to see me Eric?"

Anthony rolled his eyes at her. "What do you want to do?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "Anything."

He took my hand and started leading me out of the living room. I looked at Emily. "Do you need me for anything?"

"No, I'm fine," she said. "Don't worry about me. I think I'll go back up."

I noticed that Eric's face fell. "You know, you don't really have to spend so much time in that room."

She shrugged, but smiled at him. "I know, I just need to be by myself for a little while." She paused and seemed to consider something for a while. "Umm, I'm going to need to get some blood soon, I think," she had a mildly horrified expression on her face, "do you think you could take me?"

Eric leaped at the opportunity. "Yeah, sure we'll go tomorrow." He looked like Christmas had come early.

"Can I come?" Juana asked.

"No," said Eric firmly.

"But I need blood too. Unless, you'd like for me to go by myself. I don't _want_ to ruin your date," she said.

"It's not a _date_," Eric and Emily said at the same time.

Mark stepped in. "Juana, I'll take you hunting." Eric threw him a grateful look.

"Hmm, well it's nice to know that someone wants to spend time with me." She walked over to him and linked her arm through his. He sighed and tried unsuccessfully to pull away from her.

Emily headed back upstairs, and Anthony started leading me toward the kitchen. "Do you want anything to eat?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine," I said.

He stared at me. "You don't look fine."

"Long day." I sighed.

I wanted to ask him what he was talking to his brothers about, but I didn't want to seem rude. I just wanted to prove Juana wrong.

"So what did you need to talk to your brothers about?" I asked hesitantly.

He shrugged. "Nothing really, just stuff about Juana. Plotting ways to get her out. Oh, and I don't know if you've noticed, but Eric likes Emily."

I rolled my eyes. "I think _everyone's_ noticed that."

"Hmm, I'll have to tell him. He thinks he's being subtle. He doesn't realize how he grins like an idiot every time she's in the room."

"Don't make fun of him," I said laughing a little.

"Why not?" he asked. "He made fun of me."

"Really, what for?"

Anthony gave me a look as though it should be glaringly obvious. "Well, I met this hunter, and I couldn't stop babbling about her for a long time. It sort of drove Eric and Mark crazy."

I blushed, but couldn't help smiling. "Aw, you drove your brothers crazy over me?"

"Yeah, they thought I was idiot. You know fraternizing with the enemy and all that." He wrapped his arm around my waist to hold me close, and then his lips touched my cheeks softly.

Why had I been suspicious of him? Juana was just doing what she does best, getting on my nerves.

"So I was thinking, are you up for meeting Ethan tomorrow?" I asked him.

"Whenever you want me to meet him is fine with me," he said.

I took a deep breath. "Okay, tomorrow then."

I knew I should have been worrying about it. Ethan was _not_ going to be nice about this. But, at the moment, Anthony was holding me close and running his fingers through my hair. That made it easy to forget how much problems I had.

He moved his lips along my cheek and stopped at my ear. "I love you," he whispered.

The next morning Ethan picked me up. I'd called him the night before to tell him that he could meet Anthony that day.

I could feel the butterflies fluttering around in my stomach as I waited for him to show up. When I saw his familiar red car pull up into the driveway, it was as though the butterflies had been given caffeine with the way they moved in my stomach. I took five deep breaths in a pitiful attempt to calm myself down.

Ethan didn't respond to my hello when I got into the car. He kept his hands at ten and two on the steering wheel and refused to take his eyes off the road. He's not normally an obsessively safe driver, but I think he wanted an excuse to not talk to me.

It wasn't until we were at school and out of the car that he spoke to me. "Lead the way," he said.

I was being as slow as possible as I led him to where I told Anthony we'd meet him in the back of the school. Anthony leaned against the wall looking calm and blasé. Why was it that he could always be so composed while I freaked out about everything? I supposed it had to do with that whole opposites attract thing. He looked at me and gave a small smile. Next to me I noticed Ethan stiffen.

Ethan was very still upon seeing Anthony. I could feel the tension resonating off of everyone.

I decided since this was mostly my mess, I should probably talk first. "Anthony this is my best friend Ethan. Ethan this is my –" I stopped, deciding the word "boyfriend" probably wouldn't sit well with Ethan. "This is Anthony."

Anthony extended his arm. "Hello," he said a bit uncertain.

Ethan didn't say anything in response. He stood staring at Anthony as though he was ready to rip his throat out. You would think that with Ethan's cute, good guy look, he would be completely incapable of a murderous expression, but I assure you that's not the case.

When it became clear that Ethan wasn't going to be polite, Anthony lowered his hand. For the longest minute of my life nobody said anything. Ethan simply glared Anthony as if staring at him long enough would prove the, "obvious" evil all vampires had.

"I know what you're probably thinking about me," Anthony started, "but I would never, ever hurt Evelyn."

Anthony's statement finally provoked a reaction from Ethan. He rolled his eyes. "You're hurting her by existing," he hissed.

"Ethan," I cut in, "you said you'd be good."

He looked at me, first furious and then he closed his eyes, and when he opened them his expression was more neutral. "Am I supposed to just believe that you're good," he asked.

"Yes," Anthony answered simply. "How do you want me to prove it?"

"Stay away from us," Ethan responded instantly.

"Ethan," I cut in again, "don't –" I stopped when I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket.

I frowned when looked at the caller ID. It was my mom. My mother, the person who calls me for only the most dire emergencies.

"Hello?" I answered the phone.

"Evelyn," her voice was cold. "Listen to me, I am going to ask you this question once, and you better be honest with me, do you understand?"

"Um, yes," I had a bad feeling about this.

"Have you seen or heard or had any kind of contact with Emily in the past month?" she asked enunciating each word carefully.

Well, on the plus side I had killer intuition. My initial bad feeling about this conversation had been correct. However, on the down side, it was highly possible that my mother could kill me for seeing Emily.

Now, it would seem like my best move here would be to lie through my teeth. But, it was highly possible that my mom knew the truth and was testing me. This isn't just me being paranoid either, she's done it before.

So, my solution? Easy, beat around the bush.

"Emily's been missing for a month," I said. I felt awkward, especially with the way Ethan and Anthony were both staring at me now.

"Evelyn, the reason I wanted you girls to stop looking for Emily is because Lucas leaked a trail that she was turned into a vampire," my mom said. I gasped appropriately. "The Administratio didn't want to believe it, but when we tried tracking her as a vampire…" she trailed off. "We're ninety percent sure that it's true, but we're still hoping…"

"So why are you asking me if I've talked to her if she's been turned into a vampire?" See how I addressed the problem by implying that I hadn't seen Emily without actually saying I hadn't seen her, while at the same time asking a question to find out how she found out that I had in fact seen Emily? I'm a genius.

"I fought with Lucas today, and he mentioned something about you 'fraternizing with our enemies,'" she was whispering.

"And you believed him?" I asked allowing a decent amount of outrage into my tone. "And why are you whispering?"

"I'm not exactly in the best condition to be having a condition right now, so I'll talk to you later okay Evelyn?"

So that meant she was in the middle of hunting. "Yeah, sure," I said relieved that I was getting off so easy. But don't think for a second that I didn't realize that she hadn't answered my first question.

I sighed in relief when closed the phone. "I heard something about Emily. Did they find her?" Ethan asked.

I shook my head. "They think she's been turned into a vampire," I said watching Ethan's jaw drop. "But they're not sure," I added partly to calm him down and partly to answer the questioning look on Anthony's face.

Ethan seemed to remember that Anthony was here. He looked at me, "we shouldn't be talking about this in front of _him_."

I sighed. Ethan's rude attitude was really bugging me. I wondered what he would do if he found out that Anthony knew more about Emily's present situation than he did.

Ethan stared at me for a long time. "Listen," he said to Anthony. "You have no idea how badly I want to kill you, but I'm not going to try because I don't want to hurt Evy. But you can't expect me to just be okay with whatever it is you guys are doing. If you leave nobody's going to have to get hurt."

"I'll only go away if she wants me to," Anthony said.

"Look," Ethan snapped. "Whatever kind of hypnosis you're using on her –"

"Wait what?!" I stopped him. "You think I've been letting him hypnotize me?"

"Probably some low level form so that you're mind isn't completely out of it," Ethan answered. "How else would you get involved with a vampire?"

"This is ridiculous," Anthony said, angry for the first time. "Just because you couldn't get a date with her doesn't mean that every other guy is just as incompetent."

Okay, that was a bit harsh. "Anthony," I admonished him.

"Sorry Evelyn, but seriously, what can I do to make this guy believe me?" he asked.

"Nothing," Ethan growled.

I was on the verge of tears. This was not good. I was about to say something to try to keep the peace, but my phone vibrated again.

"Yeah Nicole?" I answered.

"You need to come home now. And bring Ethan or at least tell him to go home too," she ordered.

"Huh? Why?" I was a little surprised at the urgency in her voice.

"It's about mom and Lucas. Come home now!"

I refused to let myself panic, not this too. "Something's wrong," I told Ethan and Anthony who were at the moment giving each other murderous glares. "Nicole wants us to go back to my house," I told Ethan. "Don't worry about giving me a ride, I'll teleport there." I couldn't imagine the horror of sitting through another car ride with him.

Ethan looked back and forth between Anthony and me. "I'll see you in a little while," he said, stalking off looking ready to kill somebody.

When he was gone Anthony came up closer to me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lose my temper, I just –"

"Relax, I know he was provoking you. We'll talk about it later, 'kay?" I felt so out of it. I couldn't even concentrate properly on him.

I teleported back home to see what it was that Nicole wanted.


	20. Chapter 20

_Hello everyone. I am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long, but I've been busy. AP classes deserve to die. You guys don't know how great you all are. I really, really appreciate your wonderful reviews, thanks so much for the feedback. For this chapter, I want to give major thanks to _**Summer Jasmine** and **ilovetwilight99**_ for being such amazing betas. You guys are great. :) Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! :D_

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Back at the house, the first person I saw was Olivia pacing up and down - an old habit she keeps up when things were bad.

"What's wrong?" I asked, drawing her attention to me. Her head snapped up, and she looked surprised as if I'd caught her off guard.

Nicole walked in. "Oh good you're here." She looked relieved. She stared at the phone in her hands seeming to will it to ring.

"What's wrong?" I repeated my question.

Nicole took a breath. "Don't panic, okay?"

I frowned at the way her eyes were watery. Hunters did not cry on the job, and by the way Olivia and Nicole were tensed, they were definitely on the job.

"Mom's missing," Olivia blurted out. "She was hunting Lucas with Cheryl, but Cheryl said Mom didn't meet her at the place she was supposed to."

I frowned. "How long ago was that?"

"About an hour," Cheryl answered walking into the room. "I tried calling her phone again. It's not even ringing any more."

"Wait, that's not possible," I said. "She couldn't have been missing for an hour." She'd just called me, and she'd sounded fine. Except at the end when she was rushing to leave…

"Why not? Do you know something?" Cheryl asked. Three pairs of eyes stared at me.

"I _just_ talked to her a few minutes ago," I said, remembering the very unpleasant conversation.

"That doesn't make any sense," Cheryl frowned. "Did you call her?"

"No, she called me." I didn't like where this was heading. The next question would be what did she want to talk to me about, and that was a topic I hadn't had enough time to formulate a good, solid lie for.

"What did she want to talk to you about?" Olivia asked. See? I'm practically psychic.

Unfortunately, there were no lies, no beating around the bush, no easy way out for this one. I'd had to tell them the truth.

"Emily," I said softly. "She wanted to talk to me about Emily."

Cheryl's frown became more defined. Olivia looked confused. And Nicole looked hopeful. "Did they find out anything new?" Nicole asked.

I spoke very slowly. "There are some members of the Administratio, according to Mom, who think that Emily is a vampire." I waited for their outraged disbelief.

Sure enough, right on cue all three gasped at the same time. "What? How?" Olivia's eyes were still bulging.

"I don't know, Mom didn't say much about it. But I guess that's why she didn't want us trying to find Emily."

I only glanced once at Nicole who stood shaking her head in disbelief while the rest of her body was frozen. "But," she said hesitantly, "that means they're going to look for her, and then they'll kill…" She stopped talking.

Cheryl was, as usual, the calm one. "What I don't understand is why Mom would call you specifically in the middle of hunting to talk about Emily."

Olivia's head snapped up. "You think it's connected to where Mom is?"

Cheryl nodded. "Let's say Mom was caught."

"By Lucas?" I asked trying to wrap my head around where she was going with this.

"Most likely," she said and continued. "What if Lucas was holding her captive for whatever convoluted reason that he may have? Why would that cause Mom to call Evy and start talking to her about Emily?"

"You don't think Emily would be working with him, do you?" Olivia's eyebrows were pulled very tightly together.

"I don't think so," said Nicole. "What if Lucas wanted Mom to call Evy? What if the whole thing was set up?"

"All we're coming up with is questions, but no answers," I said frustrated.

"Evelyn, what exactly did Mom say to you on the phone?" asked Cheryl.

I'd wanted to avoid this. However, my mother's life was at stake. "She asked me if I'd seen Emily in the past month."

"Why would she think you'd seen Emily?" Olivia squinted at me as though she was trying to read my mind.

I shrugged, again hating the direction the conversation was heading.

"Would she have a _reason_ to think you've seen Emily or does she always check up on you to make sure you're not hanging out with vamps?" Olivia pried.

"Olivia!" Nicole came to my rescue.

"What? You don't think it's weird that Mom calls her in the middle of a life or death situation to ask her if she's talked to any old friends recently? There has to be some kind of a connection," she said calmly.

"Evy wouldn't just decide to be friends with a vampire," Nicole said. I felt kind of bad listening to her defend me when Olivia was pretty much right.

"No one's a hundred percent sure that Emily is even a vampire," I added, trying to help my case.

Olivia completely ignored what I said. "Don't you think she's been acting weird lately? She hasn't been hunting as much or talking to Ethan. She's always out doing who knows what with other people."

"I agree," Cheryl interrupted.

"What?!" I tried to make sure my voice didn't get too high to give me away.

"Cheryl, you don't really think Evelyn-" Nicole started.

"I think Mom's phone call has something to do with Evelyn. If it didn't she wouldn't have called her. I think she was trying to give us some kind of hint. Maybe it's something that only you would understand," Cheryl looked at me hopefully.

I considered the reasonableness of what Cheryl was saying. "All she said was that Lucas was the one who leaked the trail about Emily being a vampire, and she asked me if I'd had any contact with her recently. She said she'd fought Lucas today, and that was it."

"Am I the only one here who thinks she sounds defensive?" asked Olivia.

"Yes," Cheryl and Nicole said together.

"Look, Evelyn why don't you just think about it, and if you come up with any ideas just let me know. Right now this Emily thing is all we have to go on, so I think we should search for her," Cheryl said taking charge.

"But Administratio laws state that we'd have to kill her," Nicole reminded her looking weary.

"And Mom specifically said to stay away from Emily," I said.

"Maybe that was her hint." Nicole looked at the skeptical expression on Cheryl and Olivia's faces. "You never know, it could've been her way of keeping us safe."

"Yeah right. Mom cares more about catching Lucas than she does our safety," Olivia said.

"That's not true!" I looked at her incredulously. "She isn't obsessed with hunting him," I paused, "well, not anymore…"

"Mom's a hunter first and foremost, you know that," Olivia said apathetically.

"We have to worry about all this later," said Cheryl. "Right now Emily's our only lead to find Mom, it's her or Lucas. And _if _her hint was to avoid Emily, I really don't care. Finding Mom is more important. I vote we go find Emily, unless anyone thinks we'd have a better shot at Lucas?" She looked around at our blank faces. "Okay then, who's ready to go?"

"Wait, I just have one more question for Evelyn. Why _have_ you been avoiding Ethan?" Olivia asked me.

I sighed heavily. "Because his little puppy dog crush is annoying." It came out curt and harsh.

"Sorry I've been such a nuisance," said Ethan coming up behind me.

I looked at Olivia who'd obviously known that Ethan was standing there. She smirked, I wanted to punch her.

"Ethan, I-"

Ethan's face showed no emotion. "Don't worry about it," he cut me off and then looked at Cheryl. "My father wants to talk to you. He's been thinking about ways to locate your mom."

Cheryl nodded. "Evy remember what I said. Just think about it. Nicky, you stay here in case any of the hunters come. Olivia, come with me."

"What's Evelyn going to do?" Olivia asked.

"She needs to go back to school," Cheryl said firmly. "And you should go back too Ethan."

My jaw dropped. "But Mom's missing," I protested.

"Go Evelyn."

Without looking at anyone I teleported out of the house, but I didn't go to school. Instead, I went to Anthony's house. I figured I would talk to Emily; she had a right to know what was going on. And, I'd also call Anthony to see if he would come home early from school. I really needed to see him.

When I rung the doorbell I was a little surprised to see Anthony answer, he must have been ditching. "Hi, what are you doing here?" He looked my face over when I didn't respond. "What's wrong? Come inside."

I walked in, but I didn't go farther than the foyer. Anthony and I looked at each other for a while. "Um, I'm going to need to see Emily. Things are kind of falling apart."

"She's with Eric. What happened?"

"Really? She's with Eric?" I hadn't expected her to get over her aversion to other vampires so quickly.

He nodded. "She needed to feed."

I couldn't stop myself from wincing at that. And then I saw him see my reaction.

"Does that bother you?" he asked. "Because there really isn't any way around it."

I sighed. "I know, I'm sorry. Today just really isn't a good day. And when you said 'feed…'" I paused. "I'm still getting used to this. I don't even know if we can work out."

"Wait, wait slow down. Tell me what's wrong." He walked over to me slowly. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as he traced his fingers along my face.

"My mom's missing, and the other hunters are pretty sure that Emily's a vampire," I started to explain. Anthony wrapped one arm around my waist and led me to the living room. I looked around. "Is anyone else here?"

He shook his head. "Juana wanted to go shopping or something so Mark took her. Now about Emily, we can take her into hiding somewhere else and then I can help you look for your mother-"

"No," I stopped him. "See, it wouldn't be such a huge fiasco if there were two separate problems because then the hunters would look for my mom first and that would give us time to figure out what to do with Emily. But, I told them about how my mom had called earlier - when she was supposed to be missing - to talk to me about Emily. So now everyone thinks the two things are tied together, but I know for a fact that Emily's been here the whole time."

Anthony frowned. "It still doesn't add up though. If your Mom was already missing when she called you, then she probably only had the opportunity to call one person, why would she waste that opportunity to talk about Emily?"

"Ugh, my head hurts. And one of my sisters already suspects something's up with me. Then again she was always the bitchy one," I ranted. He raised an eyebrow. "What? She is." I told him about how she'd set me up to say Ethan was annoying.

"Ah, Ethan. I don't think he likes me very much," Anthony reflected, stating the obvious.

I heaved a sigh. "I don't even want to think about Ethan right now."

He looked at me sadly. "I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "That's the least of my problems. Can you call Eric? I really think Emily should know what's going on."

He was just about to pull out his cell phone, when for once, something went right and Emily and Eric walked in.

They stopped dead when they saw me. "Evy, what's up? I thought you were supposed to be at school." Emily came and sat down next to me.

I bit my lip trying to figure out what to tell her. "The Administratio knows, well they strongly suspect, that you're a vampire. And my sisters think you're connected to my mom being missing."

She frowned. "Your mom's missing? What happened?"

I recounted the whole story about how my mom had called and what she'd said and what my sisters were planning to do to find her.

"We should get you away from here," Eric said. "They're going to look for you locally. You can't risk that."

"We can leave today if we have to," Anthony said.

I looked at him worriedly. _Today_?

He stroked my face gently. "Not for forever, just till -"

"No," Emily said firmly. "You guys can't do this for me. The hunters aren't going to stop looking for me. It's part of hunters' culture, if one of us turns then we have to die."

"Don't be ridiculous," I said. "There has to be a way to-" Emily stopped me with a look.

"Listen Evelyn, you can't keep going through this for me. By protecting me you could lose Anthony and that's not fair. I know how hard things already are for you two."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, don't get all self sacrificing and melodramatic. If they take you into hiding it'll be, like he said, only for a little while."

"Actually, I think you should stay, little brother," said Eric.

Anthony raised an eyebrow. "You might need my help."

"To what, avoid a few hunters? Like we haven't done that before," said Eric, perfectly confident. Emily and I stared at him. "Sorry ladies, but a guy has to survive. Anyway, the hunters already know you're here, if you disappear now they'll follow."

"That makes sense," I said. "But where are you guys gonna go?"

"Are we going somewhere?" Juana asked walking in with her hands full of shopping bags.

"Juana, don't you think it's time you leave us alone?" asked Eric.

"No, I love you boys way too much." She looked at me and then glanced at Emily and sighed. "You know these hunter people have way too many problems, if you boys want to ditch anybody it should be them."

"You and I are leaving with Emily, and Anthony's staying here," Eric said to Mark.

Mark looked surprised at first, but then shrugged. "Okay."

"And I'll stay with Anthony," said Juana cheerfully. "Someone has to keep him company." I rolled my eyes at that, and no surprise, she saw me. "Problem with that huntress?"

I glared at her and was just about to say yes, when Anthony spoke. "Juana, I think it's time for you leave."

She sighed dramatically. "Eric just said much the same thing, and I ignored him. Weren't you paying any attention?"

"The difference between what Eric said and what I'm saying is that I'm not asking you if you _want _to leave, I'm telling you that you _have _to."

I looked down to hide my smile.

Juana narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me? Do you remember how I helped you when you first turned? I let you three play your little 'let's not kill the humans' game. I took care of you when the hunters like _her_," she pointed at me, "saw how weak and new you were and wanted to kill you. The reason I'm so weak is because I always had to protect you three. Don't you think that deserves some sort of a thank you?"

"Don't you think over the centuries we've done enough for you Juana? We haven't let anyone kill you either," said Mark.

She pursed her lips. "Fine. I'll leave, but you'll regret picking the hunters over me."

She turned her cold eyes on me. She looked crazy with her mean expression, but still something about her made me think she was ready to cry. "Bitch."

"Oh, get over yourself," I said, before Anthony could say something. I was fed up.

She smiled maliciously. "You're going to regret this."


	21. Chapter 21

_Happy New Year! I know I'm a little late to say it, but still I want to wish everyone the best for 2009 and I hope you all had happy holidays. I wanted to get this chapter out before the new year, but my computer has the blue screen of death. Doesn't that sound depressing? Anyways, as always I have to thank you guys for your wonderful reviews. Enjoy! :D_

Juana looked a bit too happy as she walked out of the house with her head held high.

"Do you think we need to watch out for her?" Mark asked, ending the awkward silence that had followed her departure.

Anthony shrugged. "I'll keep an eye on her, but she just likes to hear herself talk. I don't think she'll actually do anything. She's going to want a place to stay in the next three decades, I'm sure."

It was the first time I'd ever heard Anthony mention that far into the future. It was an unimportant thing to be considering in the middle of all the chaos, but I couldn't help myself. I wasn't used to thinking very far into the future. Hunters lived day to day. I could never be one hundred percent sure that I was going to survive any hunting expedition. Up till now, that day to day attitude was what I'd applied to my relationship with Anthony.

How would it work for us? Sure I was immortal too, maybe I was more fragile than he was, but I still had the potential to live forever. Hunters grew at a human speed for most of their childhood, then usually around eighteen and twenty-one the aging process slows down drastically and takes about ten years for a hunter to age one year. Hunters choose an age to stop aging and then we drink some of the poison we use for vamps. Instead of killing us, it halts the aging process, so if I wanted to I could look like I was sixteen forever.

Despite all of this, could I lie to the entire hunting community for the rest of eternity? And with all of my hunting escapades how would I maintain a relationship with a vampire for eternity? Would I even be able to continue to help Emily?

I know, I know, it was a bad time to be having a panic attack. But everything was, at the moment, too much for me to deal with.

"Where would be a good place for me to go hide?" Emily asked. "And I'm still not sure if you guys should come with me," she said to Eric and Mark.

"Why not?" Eric asked her with an exaggeratedly confused expression. "It's not like we have anything better to do."

Mark nodded in agreement. "Plus it'll actually be better for most of us to get away right now if the hunters are going to start focusing in on the area. If they find out Anthony's been living with more vampires they'll try even harder to kill us."

Emily still bit at her lip, not liking the idea of taking them with her, but still she couldn't argue with his logic. He was right, it was safer for there as few vampires around as possible.

"Okay fine, but if they find me, I'm letting them kill me. I will not let you guys put yourselves in that type of situation." She glared around the room stubbornly.

The guys didn't seem to know what to say so I decided to appeal to her common sense. "Emily don't be like that. If they find you, will you at the very least _try _to get away?" I already knew the answer though. She wouldn't deliberately put herself in danger, but she wouldn't fight the hunters either.

"Evy, you need to understand. I _can't_ fight them." She actually seemed a bit exasperated with me. It was because I wasn't submitting to typical hunter ideology. Of course, any of the hunters would likely have the same attitude she was taking. They actually would be more extreme about it and kill themselves.

I sighed heavily. I wasn't just going to give in and say _sure go ahead let my sisters kill you_. But I couldn't keep fighting with her. She was just following the rules she was raised to follow, rules which I ignored more and more everyday.

Eric was not pleased with my attempt to persuade her. "Are all hunters this difficult?" he asked frustrated.

"No," Emily answered. "Most are much, much worse."

"Right now let's just focus on keeping Emily safe," Mark said. He stopped her before she could protest. "I know you don't want our protection, but you _do _need it. You're a new vampire, I can still remember when I was new and I know how weak I was. It must be even harder for you because you were used to having the strength of a hunter. Now you're weaker than most other vamps. You _will_ need our help."

This time Mark's logic was completely infallible. She _was_ very weak. I could sense it. If any of the hunters came near her she would be dead in less than a second.

"How long will it take for my strength to build up?" she asked.

"It varies," Anthony answered. "We're not really sure how it'll work for you because you were a hunter."

"Great. Do you know have any idea what it feels like to know that you're capable of being a freak among vampires _and _hunters with magical powers?" she looked upset. I couldn't really get what it was she was going through. It seemed so trivial in the middle of life and death to be worried about things like social awkwardness.

I opened my mouth to say something comforting, knowing that whatever I said would be too generic to ever really comfort her but she stopped me before I could say a word.

"Don't bother Evelyn. I'm fine. You guys won't have any more trouble from me tonight. I'll be upstairs if you need me," she said already walking away.

"We'll go figure out where the best place to hide would be," Eric said leading Mark out of the room.

That left me alone with Anthony again. I moved closer and wrapped my arms around him tightly. He hugged me even closer; if I was human I would have probably been crushed.

"I can't believe it's been such a long day and it's _still_ only morning," I said to break the silence.

"I know what you mean," he said. He kissed my forehead and then moved his lips down the side of my cheek until finally his lips were at mine.

I pulled away first and then just leaned against his chest. "I wonder if I Cheryl will actually check up on me to see if I'm in school," I thought out loud.

He stroked my hair and I let out a sigh. I should've known things would get complicated. The really stupid thing though was that I didn't regret anything. If I could've started all over again I still would want be with him.

He froze and stepped away from me. Not even a full second passed by before I realized why he all of a sudden looked so worried.

I was so stupid! Of course Cheryl wouldn't check up on me, she was too busy with mom. And Olivia had gone with her. But Nicole, she had been home. And I'd left without saying anything. She would worry about me of course. And she would follow me to make sure I was okay.

She would end up near vampires and sense them. And when she felt how powerful they were, she'd worry even more. She'd go back to find the first hunter available, who would no doubt be Ethan. I could only hope he didn't tell her anything.

Eric, Mark, and Emily came downstairs. "Am I sensing who I think I'm sensing?" Emily asked me quietly.

I nodded.

She frowned. "It feels different. I can tell it's Nicole, but it doesn't feel the same from when…" She trailed off. I noticed that Emily avoided acknowledging the end of her hunting days whenever possible.

"What are we going to do?" asked Mark.

I took a deep breath. "I'm going to go see her."

"What?!" Emily looked appalled at this idea.

Anthony frowned at me. "Evelyn…" he paused unsure of what to say.

"I know she can sense that I'm in here," I said, my mind already made up. Still, I could feel the uneasiness in my stomach. "And I'd rather face Nicole now instead of Cheryl or Olivia later."

"You could still end up having to explain to them," Emily pointed out.

I'd already considered that. "Well what do you guys want me to do? Just stay here and hope that she goes away? If I don't go out there she's going to come in _here_. And she might be ready to fight." I shuddered at the thought.

Anthony grabbed me and pulled my face up to his. He squeezed me tight against him as he kissed me. When he pulled away his eyes looked sad. He stroked my face one last time and then I turned around and walked out of the house.

I slowly turned the knob and walked outside. I closed the door behind me carefully, and ran through a series of workable lies. I could say I came here to hunt because I was feeling restless. Or they kidnapped me and they let me escape when they sensed her. Or I could plead insanity. I was going off of the hope that Nicole would believe anything before I told her that I was dating a vampire.

When I looked at her face for the first time all I could see was pure fury. Her eyebrows were pulled together and she was glaring at the house. When I finished my walk of shame down Anthony's driveway she fixed her disgusted eyes on me. I approached her carefully, staying a good two feet away when I stopped.

"Are you out of your mind?" she hissed. She glanced back at the house and shivered when she sensed the amount of power in there. "Get in," she said coldly.

The tires screeched as Nicole swerved out of the neighborhood. I noticed that she didn't seem to be driving to any one place in particular and we weren't heading towards our house.

The silence was uncomfortable – worse than awkward. Nicole gripped the steering wheel with both hands as if she was holding on for her life. She stared straight ahead concentrating only on the road ahead of us.

Somehow I didn't think I'd get away with a lie. She knew the truth, or at least part of it. She wouldn't look like that if she thought I just went on some crazy hunting trip. Still, I felt like I should say _something_.

"Nicky, I know this looks bad, but I can –"

She laughed a hard, humorless laugh, cutting me off. "What? You can explain? Well I can't wait to here it Evelyn. Please, explain to me how exactly you can justify not only _dating_ a vampire, but running to his house when our _mother_ goes missing."

I sat in stunned silence unsure of what to do next. She didn't only know the truth, she knew details. And then it clicked in my head. It was like adding two and two together. Ethan. He'd told her _everything_.

My silence ignited a rant. "What, were you planning on lying? Were you going to tell me you didn't feel like going to school so you went hunting? I _knew_ I shouldn't have trusted you from the moment I found out you went to breakfast with that vampire..."

I thought back to that day when I had allowed Anthony to take me to breakfast. And then when Michelle had come to call me out on it. It all seemed so very long ago.

Nicole hadn't finished with her rant. "…and to think I let you off the hook for that. I figured you'd had a bad day, and you were doing what you had to do to get away from the vamp. I had no clue you actually liked him."

I felt myself getting smaller and smaller as fury had her practically shrieking at me. Somewhere in the back of my mind I decided I should look up medieval torture techniques for the next time I saw Ethan.

But I suppose Nicole guessed where my mind went. "And don't go yelling at Ethan either, he was just protecting me. I followed you a while after you teleported out because I knew you weren't going to school and I thought I'd try to make you feel better. And then I thought you were in trouble when I sensed you in a house full of vamps, and I was planning on going into attack them and rescue you." She barked out another humorless laugh. "But Ethan came to stop me and he told me what was going on."

"Nicole, I—"

"And then I was about to go in after you anyway," she cut me off again. "But Ethan convinced me not to." She stopped to take a breath, and then she just looked at me.

I couldn't meet her eyes. I just stared out the window. It seemed that my only choice now was to tell her the truth and make her understand somehow.

"Okay, I'll tell you the truth," I said and cowered at the look she gave me.

"This'll be good," she said sarcastically.

"It has to do with Emily," I said, trying to force attention on anything else. Her face softened just a little bit, and curiosity sparked in her eyes. "The Administratio is right. Emily's a vampire."

Nicole groaned. "Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse…"

"But she's not evil Nicky. She hasn't killed anybody. She's been staying with Anthony, and he doesn't hunt humans," I rambled.

"Is that what he told you?" she asked sarcastic again.

"Think about it, we haven't had any trouble at all from him since we got here. And he already saved my life that one time." I practically begged her to understand.

She'd pulled into an empty parking lot, apparently tired of driving around aimlessly. "Evelyn, how do you know he hasn't been hypnotizing you?"

"What?" My jaw dropped. It really wasn't that surprising though. Ethan had thought the same thing. "He hasn't."

She sighed and spoke gently. "Evy, you're not exactly the best at fighting vampires when they hypnotize you."

I tried to not let myself become too angry at her words. If I was in her position I'd be thinking the same thing. "You think I've been letting a vampire hypnotize me for over a month?" My voice got more high pitched with every word I spoke.

I didn't like the way she watched me now. It was condescending. "You really _like_ him then?"

I was fully aware that she was just humoring me, but my still my hopes rose. "Yeah, and he's been taking care of Emily."

Nicole didn't say anything for a long time. She just sat there considering. At least she wasn't so pissed off at me anymore, and if she was, she wasn't showing it. When she did speak, however, I didn't like what she had to say.

"This changes everything. We have to tell the Administratio or at least let Cheryl know."

"What?!" I gasped. "No, they'll kill her. She hasn't done anything wrong."

"Evelyn, I can't cover this up for you. This could lead to us finding Mom, and that's what's most important now. We can not risk a hunter's life for a vampire's, and you're still not even telling me everything. I have to let the Administratio decide what to with you if you're willing to risk your life for a vamp's," she looked a little sympathetic now.

I sat frozen for at least a full minute. I hadn't considered before that I was lucky that it was Ethan who'd found out about Anthony and me. Though he'd want Anthony dead, he would _never_ turn me in.

"Wait," I said considering what she'd just said. "What do you mean I'm not telling you everything?"

"You've only told me what you feel you have to. You're still protecting them," she said cryptically.

"Huh?"

"There were more than two vampires in there, and you haven't told me anything about them," she watched my face carefully for a reaction.

I hadn't mentioned Anthony's brothers out of habit. "Anthony has brothers, and they've had another visitor with them." I wondered if Nicole had been there when Juana was in the house.

"And these are all other _good_ vampires right?" she asked bitterly.

"Well, yeah except for the visitor. But they watched her closely to make sure she didn't do anything while she was here," I explained. "And," I was excited as something just occurred to me. "Emily was with them when Mom went missing so she couldn't have anything to do with Mom being missing."

Nicole considered again. "Who turned Emily into a vampire? Was it Lucas?"

I tried to follow her train of thought, but I had no idea where she was going with this. "No, Emily doesn't really remember much about that. She said it was a woman who changed her."

Nicole seemed to be fighting with herself. "Okay, how's this? I'm sure I'll regret this later, but I'll keep your little secret for now." I sighed in relief. But, I want to meet these vampires as soon as possible."

I groaned internally, thinking about the fiasco when Ethan had met Anthony. But, if it was the only way she'd keep quiet…

"Okay, fine," I finally said. "I'll call them now."


	22. Chapter 22

_I am very sorry it's been so long since I updated. __ I have tons of excuses, my classes suck, my mother has been cracking down on my computer time, and I've been sick. __I can't even promise that I'll do better with updating. However, people have been asking me about whether I plan on finishing this story. I swear I will. AND, there's going to be a sequel, I have a plot worked out for it and everything. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. You guys are the bestest best readers ever. Thank you for all of your wonderful, fantastical reviews. I'll make it up to you guys for not updating for such a long time some how. I promise. ;) Anyways enjoy!_

* * *

Anthony would be surprised when I told him what my sister wanted. I wasn't even sure how to tell him that she wanted to meet him.

"Hello?" he answered on the first ring.

"Hey Anthony," I was very aware of Nicole's glare while I spoke on the phone.

"How are you? Is everything okay?" he asked sounding worried at my hesitant voice.

"I'm fine, everything's fine, I think. Um," I paused unsure of how to tell him. "My sister knows everything now…"

There was a silence on the other end. And then, "_everything_?"

"Yeah, with Emily and stuff, she wants to meet everyone," I said.

Another silence. "Are you sure that's best?"

"Yeah, don't worry no one's going to get hurt." I heard Nicole hiss, but I wasn't brave enough to look in her direction.

"Alright, you can come over whenever you like. Just give me some time to tell everyone, okay?" The best thing about Anthony was that he could be calm in situations where I was likely to be freaking out.

"Okay, I'll see you in about an hour," I looked at Nicole to see if she was okay with that.

She shook her head and growled, "Sooner."

I took a breath, "Okay, I'll see you in half an hour."

"No problem," he said. "I love you."

"You too," I replied quickly, hoping that Nicole hadn't heard that.

I hung up the phone and stole a glance in her direction. Her frown had become more pronounced, and she was gripping the steering wheel more tightly. Yup, she'd definitely heard. But the higher powers had clearly decided to give me a break on this one because she didn't comment.

When she did speak, it was all business. "We can go home to check and see if there's anything new. Then we're teleporting to the vamp's house."

"Sure," I said, and hoping to keep the professional atmosphere, I dared another question. "There hasn't been anything new since I left?"

Nicole shook her head. "No, nothing, and I'm really not expecting much when we get home either, but just in case…"

When we got back to the house, it was empty. I walked in sat awkwardly on the couch while Nicole started making phone calls. She managed to get a hold of Cheryl and was actually nice enough to put it on speaker so that I could hear what was going on.

"We're a few cities away from home," Cheryl was saying. "We're having trouble picking up a trail. I met with some members of the Administratio, they're playing with the idea that Mom might not be in the state anymore."

Nicole and I looked at each other. "Why would they think that?" she asked.

"Because we've talked to other hunters all along the state, and most of them have been able to sense him to some degree which means that either he's moving or he's trying to confuse them."

"Or both," I said, not thinking.

"Evelyn? Is that you? Didn't I send you to school?" Cheryl sounded upset, but she didn't seem to have the energy or the focus to really let me have it.

"Sorry Cheryl, I just really couldn't pay attention to history today," I said while Nicole glared at me again.

Cheryl just sighed. "You better be in school tomorrow Evelyn. I mean it."

"Actually Cheryl, I was thinking it might be better if Evelyn _doesn't_ go to school tomorrow," Nicole cut in.

I looked at her surprised at first, but then I realized why she didn't want me in school – she was trying to keep me away from Anthony.

"What? Nicole, that doesn't make any sense," but then she sighed again. "Whatever, if you think it's best…you're in charge at home for now. I don't know how long we're going to be gone. If you need anything you know you can always call the Administratio…"

"Relax Cheryl, we can take care of ourselves," Nicole interrupted her. Evelyn and I are going to step out for a little while, so if you need me, call my cell okay?"

"Stepping out? It's not very safe to be going hunting right now," Cheryl warned.

"Don't worry so much Cheryl. We're going to be just fine. I'll call you tomorrow."

Before Nicole could hang up the phone Cheryl stopped her. "Wait! I need you guys to do something for me. Every hour or so, I want you to call Mom's phone. If there's any response at all it could give us a hint."

"That makes sense," I said.

"No problem, talk to you later Cheryl." With that, Nicole hung up the phone and I took a deep breath.

"Your vampire friends better be ready because I'm leaving to go now," she said.

I glanced at my watch. "But it hasn't been thirty minutes yet," I protested.

She raised her eyebrows. "I _know_. It's called the element of surprise. Back when you hunted vampires, you would've known that."

"What are you talking about, 'back when you hunted vampires?'" I _still_ hunt vampires, as in present tense," I said hoping I didn't sound childish.

Nicole just looked at me. She was still angry, but she seemed to hesitate now, unsure of what to say. "You can't have it both ways."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that you can't date a vampire, and then call yourself a vampire hunter. Normally, I would think you weren't stupid enough to miss that fact, but after today I'm really not so sure. What were you planning to do? Keep it a secret forever?"

She stopped ranting for a second to see my reaction. I was careful to keep my expression blank. But my indifference pushed her over the edge.

"Why don't you ever _think_ Evelyn? What would happen if the Administratio found out? They'd label you a traitor. And then they'd try to _kill_ you," she tried analyzing my expression again, clearly furious that I wasn't reacting the way I was supposed to – with fear.

She was right though. They _would _kill me. The fact that my mother was a member wouldn't save me. Actually, I wouldn't put it past her to give the order. My mother loved me, but if I started siding with vampires, she'd be the first one to disown me.

"I hadn't thought that far ahead," I answered. The words sounded stupid, even to me.

"Are you thinking that far ahead now? Please, _please_ tell me you've had an epiphany and you see how stupid this is. Say you had no idea what you were doing, or that you were going through some stupid rebellious phase. Say that you're going to break up with the vamp. _Please_ tell me you've come to your senses. Just say any one of those things, and I won't be mad at you. I'll take care of the vamp, and I'll never tell anybody about what happened."

I just looked at her stupidly again. I _hadn't_ come to my senses. I _was not_ going to break up with Anthony. But, I _did_ want Nicole to keep her mouth shut and never tell anybody. And I knew exactly what she meant by _taking care of the vamp_, and I wasn't going to let her kill Anthony.

When it became clear that I wasn't going to answer, she just shook her head. "Let's go."

"Wait," I said before she could teleport. "Did you believe me about Emily? She really _wants_ to be good. It isn't fair to kill her. She didn't choose to become a vampire."

Nicole was looking at me sadly again. Some wave of kindness must have washed over her because she didn't tell me no outright. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," came her cryptic response. Without giving me another chance to stall the fiasco that was about to blow up in my face, she teleported out of the house.

I followed after her quickly hoping that she wouldn't storm through Anthony's house. To my relief, she was waiting for me on the driveway. Not so comforting was the fact that she was holding two daggers coated with the strongest vampire killing poison available.

She noticed the way I was scrutinizing the weapons. "You may not believe in taking sensible precautions anymore, but I do," she said handing me one of the daggers. "If you don't take it, there's only more chance that I'll stab one of the vamps," she warned when I hesitated at the weapon.

I snatched the knife away from her, and was careful to conceal. "These are just safety nets, right? You're not actually planning on _killing_ Emily?" I confirmed.

"Of course I don't plan on killing Emily. Your boyfriend on the other hand…"

"Nicole!"

"Evelyn, I really don't know what you expect from me. I'm not just going to let you keep playing this sick game. If you spend too much time around vampires, you're going to get killed. The only way I'll promise to leave your vamp alone is if you break up with him and he moves far, far away," she watched me seriously, hoping that I was getting the message.

"I _already_ spend enough time around vampires to get killed. That's what happens when you're a vampire hunter," I said flippantly.

"_Real_ vampire hunters kill vampires, they don't date them," she retorted. Like I hadn't seen that one coming. "I really don't like having this conversation here," she said, glancing at the house. "They can probably hear every word we're saying."

"You were the one who was so anxious to come for the 'element of surprise,'" I reminded her, making quotations in the air around the phrase.

"That's right, and all this chitchat made us lose it. No more stalling Evelyn, we're going in."

She started marching up the driveway straight to the front door. "Wait," I hissed, pulling her back by the shoulder. "You can't just barge into the front door."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, that's right, these are civilized vampires. Are you telling me I should ring the doorbell, and wait for a bloodsucker to escort me in?"

I rang the doorbell while she glared at me. We didn't have to wait long. Anthony answered the door within a few seconds.

I noticed Nicole tense when she saw him. I realized she was sensing how powerful he was. I'd become shockingly immune to my natural aversion to the feeling, which may not be the best thing considering my line of work. Still, I didn't like the way she curled her fingers around the hilt of her knife.

Anthony, to his credit, looked perfectly at ease. I recognized the same playful look in his eye that he'd had when I used to look at him like I was ready to attack him. I was surprised he could act that way considering the fact that Nicole looked more murderous than I ever could, but a few centuries on Earth must make you able to adapt to just about any situation.

"Hello ladies, come in, come in," he said, stepping aside for us to enter the foyer.

Nicole walked in slowly, never taking her eyes off of him, hand still clutching her knife. I followed after her with a somewhat more relaxed disposition. She was watching me out of the corner of her eye, and I realized that she was observing the way Anthony and I would act around each other. There wasn't much for her to see. Anthony gave me a small, reassuring smile, but that was the extent of any interaction between us.

"So leech, how long have you been using my sister?" she asked, before Anthony could take us beyond foyer. I realized that she would want to stay close to an exit.

"Nicole," I tried cautioning her. I wasn't really surprised though.

Anthony remained as relaxed as ever. For whatever reason, he seemed more willing to get along with my sister than he'd been to warm up to Ethan.

"I haven't been using her. I assure you, I would never want anything bad to happen to Evelyn. I won't hurt her."

"And I'm supposed to just take your word for it? I came over here to tell you to stay away from my sister, or else I will kill you," she stared him down, daring him to defy her.

"I will do whatever Evelyn wants me to. Would you like to come in?" he gestured toward the living room.

"No, I would not like to come in. Why did you move here? Why won't you leave my sister alone?" she asked, keeping consistent with her rude tone.

"I'm a vampire; we don't stay in one place very long. And you know, your sister _can_ speak for herself. Now please, come in. Emily would like to see you. I'm not going to attack you, and neither will my brothers. We'll keep a five foot radius from you and Evelyn." He said all this with his hands up as a gesture of peace.

"It's okay Nicky, come on," I said, gently pulling her toward the living room.

Thankfully, she let me pull her along. His mention of Emily must have diffused her anger toward a bit. We walked in and Mark immediately caught her eye. It didn't take long for me to realize that he was trying to hypnotize her. She tried fighting it, I saw her almost pull away, but Mark was strong.

For a split second, I felt used. They were hypnotizing her. Anthony had been using me to get to my family. I'd been wrong, and if I'd only listened to what she and Ethan had been trying to get through my thick head I wouldn't be putting our lives in danger. I could barely register what he was doing to feel horrified as I watched her eyes glaze over and her whole body slip into a trancelike state.

I wasn't sure what my plan was exactly, but I was about to move, or yell, or do something to express my outrage. Before I could, Anthony wrapped his arms around me gently, but still tight enough so that I couldn't move.

"Relax sweetheart, she's fine. He's only hypnotizing her because we need to talk to you alone." He kissed me lightly on the cheek and then pulled back to stroke my face soothingly.

I looked over my sister, clearly she was fine. She wasn't in a coherent state at the moment, but considering the hell she'd been giving me today, it was an improvement. I was ashamed at myself for losing faith in Anthony so quickly, but today was not my best day.

"I'm sorry," I apologized quietly. "I should've known you weren't going to do anything to her. Today's just not my day."

Anthony smiled at me sweetly. "It's okay." He gave me another light kiss on the lips this time, and then turned to his brothers and Emily with his arm still wrapped around my waist.

"Well, we have good news and we bad news," Eric said. "Which do you want first?"

"Give me the good," I said, I didn't think I could handle any of the bad today. I looked at Mark and my sister. "How long are you going to be able to keep her like that?" I wondered.

"She's tough," he replied. "Probably ten to fifteen minutes – if no one distracts me."

"Oops, sorry." I looked back at Eric. "So about that good news?"

Anthony was the one who answered. "We think we know where your mother is."

My mouth dropped open. I had to work to not get my hopes up. "But all of the hunters haven't found a thing yet," I said rationally. "How could you have found her so quickly?"

"That's where the bad news comes in," Emily said. "It's Juana."


	23. Chapter 23

_Hi everyone! I really wanted to get this chapter out today, so unfortunately I didn't edit it. I'm sure it's chalk full of mistakes. I had to work to make this not seem too filler-ish, although it may still come off that way. I assure you there are very important details in here though. And, I think this is the longest chapter I've ever done so far! Yay! As always I really, truly appreciate all of your reviews. I know I have the best readers, and I'm sorry I can't update for you guys more often. Hope you enjoy! :)  
_

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"What are you talking about?" I asked them. "Juana's been with you guys for over a month. You've been watching her every step. How can she have anything to do with my mom?"

"After you left I followed Juana," Anthony explained. "We couldn't just let her leave. Knowing her, she would be bound to do something stupid. I caught her talking on the phone with your mother."

"Wait what?" I was growing more confused by the second. Everything they were saying to me wasn't adding up.

"Your mother's name is Ava, right?" Anthony confirmed. I nodded. "Well, Juana spoke to her on her cell phone. She said, 'Ava, you might want to cooperate with us or else your daughter may have some serious problems.'"

"I'm assuming she means me, when she said 'daughter,'" I groaned, feeling even worse when they nodded.

"She said 'us,' now we just have to figure out who she's working with," Eric told me.

"Lucas," I whispered. Things were starting to make sense in my head.

"Lucas?!" the three brothers exclaimed in unison.

Mark almost lost his focus with Nicole. Meanwhile, Anthony and Eric were trading frantic looks, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what those looks meant.

"Lucas Morren?" Anthony asked me slowly.

"Yeah," I answered. "My mother was hunting him."

"Lucas is a powerful guy," said Eric. "He likes to play games, but he doesn't usually waste his energies on one hunter. Are you sure he's the one?"

So that's what had them worried. Lucas was powerful. Still though, this was the first time I'd seen them balk at any kind of danger. Their brother dating a hunter had been fine. Taking in a vampire while their brother's hunter girlfriend came over? No problem. Housing an ex-hunter turned vamp? Of course. But now, one vampire who probably wasn't anymore powerful than any one of them, and they reach near panic mode

"It's not just my mother," I told them. "Lucas sort of has a problem with my whole family." I realized as I was explaining to them, that I'd never given Anthony the details of my father's death. But we did that often. Our tendency was to shy away from any kind of hunter-vampire disputes. It made our relationship easier. "He killed my father."

Mark _did _lose his concentration with my sister at that point. For a split second, Nicole was groggy, and then her eyes had a dazed look to them. It wasn't long before she snapped out of it, and glared at the three brothers, just the same as before.

I noticed all three take a step back away from her. Huh, they'd all regarded me playfully the first time I'd been here. Clearly, Nicole had more skill at projecting power than I did. But now was not the time to distress over my lack scariness. It bothered me the way the brothers still looked frazzled at my mention of Lucas.

"Something doesn't feel right…" she started. But then, she saw Emily. "Oh my God."

Emily smiled sadly. "Hi Nicky."

"Emily," Nicole whispered with her hand covering her mouth. I'm sure she was taking in the new changes that came with Emily's vampire transformation – the perfect skin, the glossy hair, the alluring eyes.

Emily seemed determined to say something. "It's still me Nicky. Why don't we talk?"

I nodded encouragingly at Nicole hoping that she would give Emily a chance. I glanced at the boys, a bit peeved that they were throwing anxious glances at each other, trying to communicate with their eyes. What had shocked Mark so much that he lost concentration with my sister? Yes, I'd said that Lucas killed my father, but if they knew anything about him – and from their reactions, they seemed to know him well – they should know that he was dangerous. Hence, with his dangerous nature, he killed my father.

After a moment's consideration, Nicole agreed. "Okay Emily." Just as I was about to sigh in relief at the opportunity to talk alone with Anthony and his brothers, she turned to me and said, "But you're not going anywhere."

Damn.

"We'll give you three some privacy," Mark said. I glared at Anthony as he walked away with his brothers. What wasn't he telling me?

"Well," Nicole started, "This is…different."

Emily closed her eyes, and took a few deep breaths. I have no idea why. Vampires don't need to breathe, but I suppose it calmed her down.

"I'm so sick of hiding. Do you want to kill me Nicole?" I was shocked at the calm way she asked. I wondered if she'd been thinking about this for a long time.

"Emily!" I shouted at her, not really sure what I was going to say.

"Of course I don't want to kill you Emily, but things are different now. The rules are clear. A hunter turned vampire is not allowed to live." Nicole was just as blasé about the topic as Emily.

I wanted to scream. Was I really that much of a freak? Everybody was so narrow-minded. Why was I the only one who wasn't bothered by different things?

I tried to organize my thoughts. I wanted to exude the same kind of calm that they had. "People? Am I the only one here who sees that Emily doesn't _have_ to die?"

They both just stared at me. Emily spoke first, and I hated her tone. But, it was a tone that I was used to. She spoke to me like she was talking to a little kid, a young, naïve little kid.

"Evelyn, the Administratio isn't going to compromise on this. I'm a vampire, you guys are vampire _hunters_, this is just the way things work." She gave another small smile.

"Okay, you're a vampire, we get it. The thing is, you're not evil. If the hunters kill you they'd be killing an innocent person, and if that's the case I don't want anything to do with them anymore." I didn't even think about what I was saying. I was willing walking away from everything I knew and lived for.

"Please don't be so melodramatic Evelyn. Don't make my problems your problems. You're much too good a huntress to quit."

"Emily," Nicole started, and I braced myself for a fight. "Evelyn's right."

"What?" we both said in unison. I was surprised to see Nicole looking at me, contemplative.

Nicole sighed. "We hunters always stand all high and mighty, with the claim that we do the right thing by killing vampires because it saves innocent people. You are innocent, Emily, so by killing you we'd go against everything we stand for."

"Nicole, I don't think everyone's going to see it that way," Emily said.

"For heaven's sake, do you _want_ to die?" Nicole asked her.

"No, but I don't want to live if all of my friends and family hate me for what I am, and think that I _should_ be dead. I also don't want to hide from them."

"Well, you won't have to. We'll make it work somehow," Nicole pulled her eyebrows together, obviously trying to figure out how to pull this one off.

"You know, by those standards, Anthony and his brothers are also innocent." I wasn't sure if it was the best time to bring that one up, and sure enough Nicole made her opinion clear with a hard look in my direction, but I had to try.

"_Emily_ was a hunter. Your soon to be ex-boyfriend has been a vamp for how many centuries now?"

"Nicole," Emily stepped in, "Anthony and his brothers truly aren't bad. They've helped me a lot, and it's true they only feed on animals."

Nicole looked from me to Emily and sighed. "There's too much going on right now to deal with that." She looked me in the eye and gave me an ultimatum. "I won't say anything about your vamp for the next until after we have everything worked with Mom and Emily _if_ you promise not see him."

I paused before I answered. "Okay, but we're not staying away from Emily though, right? And if Emily's staying with my vamp…"

Emily tried to hide her smile, while Nicole rolled her eyes. "_I'm _not staying away from Emily. You are going to keep away from this house as much as possible."

I willed myself to not be upset. I was going to be mature and grown up about this. And, as long as Nicole wasn't going to say anything about this, I would have time to figure what I was going to do about Anthony and me. "Fine, I'll stay away from all the good vampires, but does this mean you're going to be spending lots of time around here."

"Yes," she answered grudgingly. "And if I find even one little problem with your bloodsucking friends I will kill them, do you understand?"

"Um, are you going ask them if it's okay to spend large amounts of time at their house loaded with weapons that could easily kill or maim them?" I asked hesitantly.

"No."

Emily took that time to intervene again. "I really missed you Nicky. I appreciate you doing this for me. I know you don't really like the idea of spending time around vampires, so maybe every once in awhile you could bring Evelyn with you. She's been really great to me. And, since she knows the brothers so well, she can ease the tension."

I mouthed my "thank you" to Emily as Nicole considered the suggestion. "Maybe, we'll see. I don't know how long we can keep this a secret, most likely we'll have to tell when we find Mom, and I want to find her as soon as possible.

"Well, as long as you guys are helping me, I want to help you. I can go amongst vampires and they won't view me as a threat. I'll help you find Ava. I'm so sick of being useless and having everybody take care of me all the time."

"Emily, it's dangerous for you to come out of hiding. If any hunter sees you, I don't think they'll hesitate to kill you. Especially around here, you might run into Cheryl or Olivia, and they're a lot more into the rules than Evelyn or me," Nicole cautioned.

"I can't hide forever," she protested. "I'll find a way to help."

Anthony and Eric walked into the room then. "So, are you ladies all caught up? Or do we need to pretend like we something better to do again?" Eric asked. The question was pointless, of course. They'd most likely heard everything with their enhanced vampire senses. I'd been too stupid to use my own senses as a hunter to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Where's Mark?" I asked Anthony, ignoring Eric's attempt at light-hearted conversation. I was still irked at their reaction to Lucas' name.

"He stepped out. He's going to following up on some things." He gave me a meaningful look, and I knew it had something to do with Juana.

"Listen leech," was Nicole's way of addressing Anthony. "Until further notice, you are to stay away from my sister. Do you understand?"

Anthony glanced at me, and I nodded. "Yes ma'am," came his reply.

"Good, now we're leaving. Emily, I'll come see you as soon as I can. If I need to contact you then I suppose—"

"Evelyn has the house phone number," Emily said.

"Okay, good." Nicole walked over to me, gripped my arm, and teleported with me, ensuring that I had no chance to linger or say goodbye to Anthony.

Nicole teleported into the living room with me. I felt so tired; all I wanted to do was collapse on my bed. It was a strange feeling for me. I was used to pushing my body past all the usual limits when I was hunting, and now, after a little emotional stress, I felt completely exhausted.

"I really hope you two weren't doing anything dangerous." Nicole and I both jumped when we heard Cheryl's voice.

"Cheryl, what are you doing here?" Nicole asked, recovering from her shock quickly.

"We're not finding anything. Between eight members from the Administratio, Olivia, and me we're getting nowhere. So, we decided to take a few hours to regroup."

Olivia walked in at that moment. "We've been thinking about what Mom said when she called you Evelyn. She called you and started talking about Emily, so obviously that's important."

"What we're hoping is that Emily _hasn't _been turned," Cheryl said. "She might have been captured, and is being hypnotized, which would explain why we can't sense her. If a vamp's been controlling her mind for over a month, she's bound to have vampiric energy around her."

Nicole and I exchanged looks. We both knew that Emily _had_ in fact turned into a vampire. We also knew that she was in absolutely no danger of being hypnotized. Vampires were immune to that.

"We still have to keep in mind that there's a good possibility that she _has_ been turned though," Nicole said. She was being cautious, trying to find out exactly how much they knew about Emily.

"Obviously," said Olivia. "But I don't see how she could survive around here as a vampire unless someone was helping her.

Well, of course someone was helping her. I was helping her. And now, so was Nicole. Not that I could say that, of course.

"I think I already know the answer to this, but would you two like to help us look for Mom?" Cheryl asked.

"Yes," we answered immediately.

Cheryl nodded. "Okay, but here's the deal, no one's out hunting alone. Even the members of the Administratio are pairing up. Nicole I want you to go with Olivia, Evelyn you should probably go with Ethan."

I looked at her in disbelief. Was she serious? "I don't really think that's best right now."

Cheryl looked at me wearily, but it was Olivia who spoke. "Either get over your issues or stay home. If you can't grow up, you shouldn't be out hunting."

Before I could protest, Nicole intervened. "Evelyn, don't start. Olivia's right, besides, you work well with Ethan."

"You were going to have to see him eventually anyways," Cheryl pointed out.

Now this here, is a classic example of how being the youngest can come back to bite you. I hated it when they all ganged up on me, not even giving me a chance to speak. Yes, my mother was in danger. Yes, I needed to grow up. Yes, I had to work things out with Ethan. But, I just _didn't want to._

"Fine," I grumbled. "But he probably doesn't want to go with me anyways."

"I wouldn't blame him," Olivia muttered.

Cheryl didn't even give me time to come up with a witty retort. "Olivia," she admonished. "Enough. New rule, Evelyn and Olivia aren't allowed to be in the same room together. Evelyn, go call Ethan. Nicole, Olivia, you two should leave as soon as possible. I need to make a few calls to see who's willing to help. Go."

I trudged up the stairs to my room. I flopped down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes. Sure I was wasting time, but I needed to think. It was hard to believe it was only the middle of the day.

After giving myself the necessary mental preparation, I flipped open my cell phone, and scrolled down the contacts to Ethan's name. I stared at it for about another minute before I pressed the button to call him.

We were going to make amends. We weren't going to talk about Anthony. We weren't going to fight. And hopefully, it wouldn't be awkward. It had been so long since I'd had my best friend.

When I did finally work up the nerve to call him, he didn't answer the phone immediately. It took about ten rings. There was a time when he used to answer me on the first ring no matter what.

"Hello," he finally picked up.

"Hey Ethan, what's up?" I started out.

"I'm at my house. I'm going to be hunting with my dad in few minutes. Do you need something?" His voice was cold, almost harsh.

"Um, actually, I wanted to ask you if you could come out with me in a while to look for my mom. Nobody has any leads, and I'm starting to get worried," I told him.

It was unfair for me to ask him like that. I was making him feel guilty by pulling the "my mom's missing" card, but I knew I should see him. And Nicole was right; Ethan and I did work well together.

There was a silence. "Well, I don't know when I'm going to get back from hunting with my dad…"

"Please Ethan? You know, it'll give us a chance to talk," I said.

Another silence. "Okay, if we get back before six I'll call you, and we can go. If not, it probably means we got caught up in something."

"Thank you," I said gratefully.

He didn't say goodbye. He just hung up. And yes, I'm aware I deserved it.

I was a terrible hunter. If anybody found out about all the rules I'd broken, I'd be in serious trouble. The Administratio would strip me of my powers – I've seen them do it before, it's messy. Or, I'd be exiled, shunned, disowned. I didn't know which one was worse.

So now on my list of infractions we had:

1. Fraternizing with vampires.

2. Dating a vampire.

3. Giving my vampire boyfriend important information about hunters.

4. Not telling the Administratio about a hunter who turned into a vampire.

5. Helping said hunter turned vamp go into hiding. (Although, I now had an accomplice here with Nicole agreeing to help).

6. And now, I was withholding valuable information about my mother's disappearance (I probably deserved to be shunned for that one).

Now it was time to call Anthony. I know, I know, I made a promise to Nicole, but it's all in the wording my friends. I promised I wouldn't see him – there was no mention of me talking to him.

Anthony answered on the first ring. Then again, he wasn't mad at me. "Hey Evelyn."

"Hi, I need you to fill me in on everything about Juana and my mom. And how do you three know Lucas? You guys know you don't have to help me, right? He _is_ dangerous. If you'd rather stay away from him, I understand."

"No, it's not that. I should talk to you in person, Evelyn." He sounded upset.

"Is something wrong? Is it my Mom?" I asked, beginning to panic.

"No, it's not about that. Look, Mark managed to get his hands on Juana. She's here at the house. We're going to keep her here as long as we can. She's not talking, but that's no surprise," he said, frustrated.

"She hasn't said anything at all?" I asked desperate. "She didn't mention my mom or Lucas or anything?"

"Sorry, no. Listen, Evelyn, I think we should talk about Lucas. Are you absolutely sure he's involved?"

I frowned. Why did he keep lingering on that detail? If he wasn't afraid of Lucas what was the big deal? "Yes, I'm one hundred percent positive."

"This complicates things," he said cryptically.

"Are you going to explain that?" I asked harshly.

"When I see you, I'm assuming you'll want to come over to see Juana?"

"I don't know. I have to figure something out. I did promise Nicole…"

"That's fine, just let me know as soon as you can okay? Juana isn't leaving here."

"Thank you. Bye, I love you," I said.

It irked me that he paused before answering. "I love you too."

Before I could hang up I heard Emily's voice. "Wait! Can I talk to her?"

"Evelyn, sweetheart, Emily wants to talk to you, okay?"

"Sure," I responded.

"Hey Evy," she said after Anthony gave her the phone.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked. "Is something wrong? I'm sorry you're stuck there with Juana again."

She didn't say anything for a while. I heard the faint sound of a door closing, so I figured she must be going up to her room for some privacy.

"Evelyn, I've been thinking about things. I really shouldn't let you and Nicole go through all this trouble for me. There are so many problems with your Mom missing and Lucas being here. And I know you and Anthony have enough drama, hiding things. I need to turn myself in to the Administratio."

"Enough!" I said. I was sick of her constantly going back and forth between thinking she should die, and then letting me convince her otherwise. "You haven't done anything wrong. I have absolutely no problem helping you. What I _will_ have a problem with, is you dying. So, stop it. Stop thinking about this all the time. Okay?"

"Evy, I'm so, so sorry. I don't want to make you upset. It's just so _hard_," she sniffled.

Great, I'd made her cry. Some friend I was.

"Emily, it's going to be fine. I know it's hard for you," I had to work to make my voice soothing. Attacking vampires? That, I was trained for. Being sympathetic? Not really my forte.

"No, I haven't told you everything," she said. Her voice broke twice. "There are times when I feel like I have no control over what I'm doing. Sometimes hours go by, and I have no memory of it."

"Wait, what? Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, trying to figure out exactly what the problem could be.

"I didn't know if it was normal or not. From everything that Eric's told me, I don't think so, but I don't know. I think something's wrong with me." She was practically bawling now.

"Emily, I think you need to talk to one of the brothers. I don't know anything about turning into a vampire. I'm going to come see you as soon as I can, though. Or, I'll send Nicole. Okay?"

"Wait, it's not just that Evelyn. I think I know who turned me."

This surprised me. I knew from Anthony that a vampire's memory of the change was often hazy at best, nonexistent at worst. "Who?"

"Juana."

* * *

_My, my, Juana is turning out to be quite the villain isn't she?_


	24. Chapter 24

_Surprise! I'm alive! And it's summer vacation! I'm aware of how much you all must hate me. I know it's been _months_, but I've been very, very busy. I only hope I haven't lost too many readers. You all know you're the best right? Anyways, what I have for you here is a new chapter. Not a filler or some jumble of words I threw together just to update. Chapter 24 is a **VERY IMPORTANT**__ chapter. It's so important that I had to "very important" in bold. This is the one chapter that I knew was definately, one hundred percent going to happen way back when this story only existed in my head. I've been waiting to get to this chapter since I first began. One more thing before you read on, I feel I should remind you guys that no matter how awful I can be with my updates I **WILL FINISH THIS STORY**. See? That was in bold too. I would never post something here that I didn't fully intend on finishing, I promise. Anyway, happy reading! Your reviews are always appreciated. I hope you all enjoy! :)_

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I sat in a silence for a minute processing what Emily had just said to me. "Juana changed you into a vampire? How do you know?"

From what I understood, a vampire's memory of the change was often hazy at best, nonexistent at worst.

"You know how when a hunter is changed into a vampire, the hunter loses her powers?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, so?" I said not entirely sure where she was going with this.

"I think I know why that is," she said.

I frowned at this. It was rare that a hunter ever turned into a vampire. They were always killed immediately after the hunters found out – them and the vamp who turned them. That meant that we didn't know very much about them. Why they lost their powers after the change was still a mystery.

"Well?" I prodded.

"I think Juana has my power."

"What?!" I half shrieked. Emily had the power to clone herself. It was a rare power, and in a vampire's hands…

"I think I saw her clone herself, but I'm not sure. That's the problem. It's why I'm so messed up. I think she can mess with my head. But I don't know anything about what a vampire can do to another vamp they turned." Emily sounded frantic.

"Wait, if you're right that means that Juana could have cloned herself before Anthony and his brothers found him, which means that they really captured a clone." This was just not my day.

Emily gasped. "I didn't even think about that."

"Wait. How certain are you that Juana has your power?" I asked. I wanted to know exactly how much I needed to freak out.

"Almost a hundred percent," she answered.

"I can go tell Eric now, I'm sure they can take care of it," Emily said.

"No," I stopped her. "I don't think you should, especially if Emily really is screwing with your mind. I'll take care of it okay?"

"Are you sure Evy? You've been doing a lot, and I know you're in tons of trouble right now…"

"Look, don't worry about it," I assured her. "This could help me find my mom."

I ran downstairs to find Nicole. "Nicky! Nicky!" I called.

I was forced to stop when I crashed into Cheryl. "Whoa, what's the rush? Anything I can help you with?" she asked.

"No, it's nothing," I said, rushed. "I just need to see Nicole."

Cheryl frowned at me. "Did you talk to Ethan?"

"Yeah, he's gonna call me later to tell me if he can help," I said as I ran past her.

"Nicole!" I called. "Nicky!"

"What? What's the big 911?" she asked when I nearly ran into her. I recounted Emily's theories about Juana, glancing over my shoulder every so often to make sure Cheryl or Olivia didn't walk in.

Nicole groaned when I was done. "Evelyn, what did you get me into? I'm supposed to go hunting with Cheryl and Olivia. Now, I have to find a way out of it…"

"This could help us find Mom, though. I'm sure Juana knows something. And you don't _have _to go. I could go. I'm not doing anything until Ethan actually calls me," I said, not even bothering to have an inkling of hope.

Her reaction to my suggestion was just as I expected. "Ha ha, I don't think so. You should come, though. I don't want to go there by myself, but you're not going anywhere near that boyfriend of yours."

"Okay, that's fine," I said, figuring this would be the best offer I would get.

Cheryl and Olivia came into the room then. "Are you ready Nicky?" Cheryl asked.

"Actually, Evelyn doesn't have anything to do until Ethan calls her. So I thought I should go with her and catch up with you guys later," Nicole replied smoothly. I had to hand it to her; she came up with that excuse fast.

They shrugged. "I guess we'll see you later then," Olivia said and immediately teleported out of the house.

Cheryl lingered, seeming to feel that it was necessary to give a final word of warning. "Be careful."

"I need to go get a few knives," Nicole said. "I'll be ready to go in a little bit."

I decided to make myself something to eat before we left. It already felt like such a long day, and it was only going to get longer. I needed some sugar I my system. I was in the process of making a turkey sandwich when Ethan teleported into my house.

"Ethan!" I threw myself at him and gave him a hug. I think he was almost as surprised by actions as I was, but I was glad to see him. I hadn't expected to see him so soon, and I was sick of fighting.

"Are you okay there?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "Well actually, no. Things haven't been too great lately."

"You know, I'm sure most of your problems would be solved if you'd stop seeing the vamp," he said. He didn't sound angry or jealous. He just looked concerned, which was fine. I could use a concerned friend.

I went back to making my sandwich. "Do you want one?" I asked, pointing to the turkey.

He shook his head. "I'm good. Are you just going to ignore what I just said?"

"No, I was actually planning on leading up to it." I took a deep breath. "I really, really like Anthony, and I'm really, really sorry about what you heard me say to Olivia."

He didn't say anything for awhile, and I wasn't sure if I should keep talking. "You really think I'm a love sick puppy?" he finally asked, talk about being blunt.

"No, of course not. Things have just been so bad and –"

"Don't lie Evelyn," he cut me off. "I've had a crush on you since we were five, and I know everyone knows it."

I really didn't know what to say to that, so I just stared stupidly.

"But, since you've made it very clear that you'd rather be friends, I can do that."

I continued to stare stupidly.

"If that vamp tries anything though…" at that Ethan had a mean glint in his eye.

I finally snapped out of it. He was telling me that he'd be my friend. He would go back to the way things were. He'd tolerate Anthony.

I hugged him again. "You are the bestest, best friend ever," I told him. This time he hugged me back.

"So do you want to leave when you finish eating?" he asked me, getting back to business.

I hesitated. I felt like I should go with him, but… "I'm supposed to go with Nicole…" I began.

"I can manage without you," she said, walking into the kitchen.

I glared at her. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Don't worry about it," she answered. "But, like I said, I can manage without you. You should go with Ethan."

"You could always go with Nicole first and meet up with me later," Ethan suggested.

"That could work," Nicole agreed. "Hurry up and eat, Evy."

Ethan teleported away, telling me to meet up with him when I was ready. I smiled. At least one thing was finally working out in my life. It seemed like Ethan really was going to go back to the way things were, and he didn't seem mad at me anymore.

I practically swallowed my sandwich, while Nicole stood watching me impatiently. "Ready?" she asked when I was done.

I nodded and we teleported to Anthony's house together.

Things were not good when we got there.

"Evelyn! Nicole! You're finally here," Emily looked completely frazzled when she saw us.

"What do you mean? I only got off the phone with you a little while ago," I reminded her. "Where's Juana?"

"She's gone," Mark informed me with a grim look on his face.

"Gone?" Nicole repeated. "You let her go?"

"Of course not!" Emily almost shouted.

Nicole and I both looked at her before exchanging a look. I wondered briefly if Juana did mess with Emily's mind. Emily was not a panicky person. At least she hadn't been, when she was a hunter.

"So what happened then?" I asked, calmly.

"I was right. Juana was the one who changed me, and she does have my power. What we really had here was a clone. I don't think she wanted us to find out she had my power yet, but she's only had my power for a little while so she can't control it. She can only keep a clone for so long before she loses it," Emily explained in a rush.

I tried comprehending what she said. Now that I thought about it, Juana _did_ show up right after Jack died and Emily went missing. It seemed like such a long time ago.

"My brothers went looking for her," Mark pitched in. "We decided that someone should stay here with Emily." He glanced at her worried face briefly.

"I told them I could take care of myself, but they wouldn't listen," Emily complained.

Mark shook his head at her. "You're too young a vampire to be left alone, especially if Juana came back for you. Since she was the one who changed you, she'd be able to control your mind. Trust me; you wouldn't be able to fight her off."

I looked at Nicole. "What should we do?"

She took a deep breath. "This is getting a lot messier than I expected. Go back to the house and coat your knives in the strongest poison we have."

I noticed Mark flinch a little at that. Nicole either didn't see, or didn't care. My guess was that she didn't care.

"Call Ethan and tell him what's going on," she continued.

"But he doesn't know anything about Emily," I said.

"Well, he's about to find out isn't he? Tell him you guys should go find this Juana. Meet up with him and _stay together_. I'm going to find Cheryl and Olivia. We can't forget about Lucas."

To tell the truth, I'd already forgotten about Lucas. With all my problems with Emily, Anthony, Ethan, and Juana, Lucas was actually the very last thing on my mind.

"Sure," I agreed to Nicole's plan. "Emily, you'll be okay, right? We'll call you as soon as we can."

Emily was pacing around the room, restless. "Sure, I'll be fine. That's what I keep trying to tell everybody." She twisted her face into an expression that I think was supposed to be a smile.

I managed to give her back a smile every bit as fake as the one she showed me and teleported back to my own house. I went straight to my room and found the sharpest blade I had. Then, I went into my mom's room and rifled through her drawers until I found what I was looking for. I finally found a bottle of poison and poured it onto my dagger.

I called Ethan while I waited for the poison to set into the knife, but all I got was his voicemail. The second time I called, I got an answer, but it wasn't Ethan.

"Hello, I haven't talked to you in a while," Juana said to me.

"Where's Ethan?" I asked, instantly furious at the sound of her voice.

"He's right here. I suggest you come find him. He puts up a good fight, but it's only a matter of time before he loses," she said. I hated the gleeful ring to her voice.

I didn't even think about what I was doing. I hung up on her, grabbed my knife, and focused on Ethan to teleport to him.

I surprised to find myself in front of an average two-story house, complete with a white picket fence. This was a neighborhood parents dreamed of raising their kids in.

I didn't take my time dwelling on the setting. I made myself invisible and teleported into the house.

It was empty inside. There was no furniture and the walls were completely bare. I walked further in, only to find Ethan fighting Lucas. The shock of it made me lose my focus which made me lose my invisibility which made me lose any element of surprise I'd hoped to have to my advantage. I hadn't anticipated Lucas being here – like I'd said, I didn't think before teleporting.

"Evelyn, GET OUT OF HERE!" Ethan screamed at me.

I ignored him. I was more concerned with the fact that Juana had taken the opportunity to lunge at me. I kicked her onto her back before she could do anything and pulled out my knife.

She'd lost the smug expression on her face after that and was about to come after me again, but Lucas stopped her. "Don't do it, Juana. It'll ruin all the fun." He sounded completely at ease while he fought Ethan.

My intuition picked up his nonchalant attitude, and I got the feeling that he was only humoring Ethan. It didn't matter though. I was about to go help him, but I noticed someone come into the room.

Anthony.

I'd never been so happy to see him in my life. He barely glanced at me. He just headed toward the fight that was still taking place. He pounced and the next thing I knew, Ethan was thrown across the room.

"Anthony!" I shouted. "What're you doing?"

I ran toward Ethan, he still hadn't gotten up. Somehow, amidst my panic, I managed to take in a glance of Juana and Lucas who wore twin expressions of arrogance.

Before I could get to Ethan, Anthony slapped me across the face with enough force to throw me on the floor. After that, all I could do was stare at him stupidly.

"You did a good job with her, Anthony," Lucas said with a big grin.

"This one was too easy, Uncle," Anthony said.

I felt myself begin to start shake. The embarrassment began to sink in.

_I told you so!_ The rational voice that had been locked up for so long screamed at me.

"Uncle?" I managed to say, my voice shaking. Lucas was Anthony's uncle?

Anthony's blue eyes were cold. The rest of his face was blank, but then he seemed to force out a twisted grin. "Of course," he answered. The evil grin seemed to settle on his face more easily now. "You didn't _really_ think I loved you?"

_Now is not the time to fall apart, _the rational voice told me_._ For the first time in forever, I listened to it. I pushed back the pain and confusion and moved toward Ethan, but Anthony pulled me back. "I don't think so," he said with a cruel voice to match his cruel expression. I struggled against him, but he was strong.

To my relief, Ethan was starting to get up. He was barely standing up straight when Lucas leaped to attack him.

"NO!" I shrieked. I didn't even see what Lucas did, but I was aware of Ethan's scream of pain and the blood that was now gushing from his head.

I closed my eyes for a second. This was it. There was no avoiding it. I would have to fight Anthony. I elbowed Anthony in the gut, and dived for the knife that had fallen out of my hand when Anthony slapped me.

Juana had jumped for the knife at the same time and we collided into each other while the knife only slid further away from reach. I turned invisible and carefully tried to make my way to Ethan while Juana and Anthony had their senses on overdrive trying to listen for where I was.

Ethan was still putting up a fight, but it was half-hearted now. I knew he didn't have much left in him. I needed to get him to Nicole so she could heal him.

My shield of invisibility fell for the second time due to shock. I heard a gasp from Ethan before I saw him fall. The whole thing seemed surreal. This was not happening.

Nobody tried to stop me when I made my way to Ethan this time. "Ethan!"

He looked at me sadly. "Love you, Evy." And then, nothing.

I was barely aware of Juana's voice. "Aw, unrequited love is just so heartbreaking."

I teleported out with Ethan's body in my arms. I didn't stop to wonder why they let me get out so easily. I just wanted out.

At my house, I did fall apart. I fell to my knees weeping, still holding Ethan's bloody body. My mother was still missing, my boyfriend had used me in the worst way, and now Ethan was dead.

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_Don't worry, the next update will be **SOON** I promise._


	25. Chapter 25

_Hi guys! I guess I'll keep this short. I know you all aren't too happy with me right now, or Anthony for that matter. I'd wanted to update yesterday, but my dad was hogging the computer. Thank you so very much for your reviews. I do appreciate them so much. Enjoy!  
_

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I couldn't make myself move for the first few minutes while I was back at the house. Hunters know to expect death, and if Ethan had died any other way, if Anthony hadn't been involved I might have been able to deal with the pain. I couldn't even collect my thoughts to figure out who I was supposed to call. Nicole? Ethan's parents?

I wasn't ready to face any of them. I wouldn't be able to deal with the disgust from Nicole or the guilt I would get from seeing his parents. My own selfishness disgusted me. Here Ethan was dead because of me, and all I could worry about was my self.

I finally worked up the nerve to get out my cell phone and call someone. The ideal person would've been my mother. I could use her no nonsense, methodical attitude right now, but she obviously wasn't an option so I settled for Cheryl.

My throat was dry, and I was gasping as I tried to explain in broken sentences what happened. When Cheryl got the gist of it, she immediately teleported back to the house where she found me hovering over Ethan's body.

"Oh no," she said, putting her hand to cover her mouth.

Olivia and Nicole teleported in at that moment. "Cheryl, what's going on? Why are we home?" Olivia asked impatiently.

She saw the body on the floor and fell silent, her mouth hanging open. Nicole ran to Ethan and held her hands over him trying to heal him.

"It won't work," I told her. "He's d-d-dead."

Cheryl walked over to me, and gently pulled me away from him. She tried to get me to stand up, but my whole body felt like it was in pain. I couldn't move.

"I'll go call his parents," Olivia said.

"Come on, you need to get cleaned up Evelyn," Cheryl said.

"I'll take her," Nicole offered. She must have seen fear in my eyes at her words. I wondered if she figured out that Anthony was involved in this mess. I would take all of her "I told you so's" eventually, but not now. Sympathy washed over her. "Don't worry, it'll be okay. Come on." She held out her hand for me to take.

I took it and let her lead me upstairs to my bedroom. She put her arm around my shoulder. "It'll be okay, Evy. Don't worry," she soothed.

I took a long, hot shower, and changed into my favorite sky blue, cotton pajamas. Cheryl walked in about an hour later with a mug of hot chocolate with the tiny marshmallows for me. "Hey," she said. "Ethan's parents came. They wanted to see you, but I told them you were in the shower."

She was holding out the cup to me. I could feel she steam from it warming my face. I just nodded at her. She set the cup down on my nightstand.

"I know you don't want to talk about it, but we do need to know. If this could help us find Mom…" She trailed off. "His parents would like to know how their only son died. They deserve to know."

I traced the patterns on my comforter. I wanted Cheryl to believe that the abstract patterns on the sheet had me enthralled so that she would just leave. She didn't.

Instead, she just there in silence. Cheryl wasn't as aggressive as Olivia would have been. She would sit and wait patiently until I said something, even if it took all night.

"Can I talk to Nicole?" I asked.

I noticed her eyebrows pull together ever so slightly. I didn't even realize that my words would insult her.

"Evelyn, I know we don't really talk as much," Cheryl started, "but—"

"It's not you, Cheryl," I assured her. "It's just that I'd talked to Nicole before about some issues I'd been having and I just…"

Cheryl nodded, seeming to understand. "I'll go get her, but you and I are going to have to talk eventually."

"I know, we will," I promised.

Nicole walked into my room about two minutes later. She took her time shutting the door carefully behind her. She walked over to me and sat cross-legged on my bed.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" she finally asked when I didn't say anything.

I took a sip of hot chocolate. Normally, I would've loved it. When my dad was alive, he used to make it for me every night. But right now it tasted as plain as water.

"Lucas killed him. Juana was there. I don't know how Ethan ended up with the two of them. By the time I got there, he was already fighting," I explained.

"Did you try to help him?" she asked.

I closed my eyes before answering. I didn't want to say it. We sat in silence for a full minute.

"Did you?" she pressed.

"Yes, but Anthony stopped me." My voice broke; the tears were starting to well up in my eyes.

I was surprised to see that Nicole hadn't moved. She just sat and stared at me for a while. "I'm sorry, did you say that _Anthony_ pulled you back?"

I nodded miserably.

"Anthony, the one who you vouched for, who you've been dating helped Lucas _kill_ Ethan," she confirmed.

I nodded again. She was doing a good job stacking up the guilt.

"And may I ask _why_ your precious vampire was in an alliance with Lucas. Do you even know?" I hated her sarcasm. I'd flinched when she'd called him "my precious vampire."

I refused to look at her. "Lucas is Anthony's uncle. Lucas is the one who changed Anthony and his brothers," I mumbled softly.

I couldn't believe that Nicole hadn't lost her composure yet. "You're going to have to tell everyone about this." My head snapped up. I knew I would have to, but not tonight. I couldn't do it tonight.

I decided that now was not the time to feel sorry for myself. I'd screwed up big time, and now I had to fix it. "Okay," I said. "I'll tell everyone."

Nicole just looked at me for a minute. She seemed to be thinking really hard about something. Finally, she sighed. "I really shouldn't be doing this…but maybe you don't have to tell them. At least, not yet."

My eyes widened. Did she really just say that? "What?"

"I can tell Cheryl that you found out that Lucas is working with his nephews without saying anything about your history with Anthony. We can find Mom, and take care of all the vamps, and then we can figure out what to tell everyone. Fair enough?"

I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to think about what she meant about "taking care of all the vamps." I finally just hugged her. "Thanks, Nicky."

"Yeah, I know, you owe me one after all of this is over. Now go to sleep."

***

It was sunny outside on the day of Ethan's funeral. I'd stayed in my room since he'd died. My sisters came and gave me my meals. At first, I'd been surprised that Cheryl and Olivia were putting up with me, but I figured that Nicole most likely had something to do with that. Nicole hadn't tried to talk to me since that night when she'd told me that we could keep my huge mistake a secret.

I spent a lot time thinking about everything, trying to put together the pieces and see how I'd manage to overlook the fact that I'd been dating an evil, cruel vampire. What was worse was that I couldn't get angry. I wanted to hate Anthony. I wanted the pain to turn into rage so that I'd be able to go after him and kill him. So many girls would love the chance to be able to kill the guy that did them wrong, but here I have the opportunity, but I knew that if I ever saw him I probably wouldn't be able to stop myself from crying.

I put on the black dress Cheryl had given me yesterday. I'd been contemplating whether or not I'd be able to go to the funeral. I was sure I'd fall apart.

I didn't like this feeling weak thing. It didn't suit me. It wasn't the way I raised. Hunters didn't cry at funerals. I was certain that even Ethan's mother wouldn't cry. Death was part of what we hunters did, there was no avoiding it. When someone died, we had to move on, or we wouldn't survive.

Cheryl must have guessed what I was thinking because she was stern with me for the first time when she handed me the dress. "I know you're going through something right now," she began. "But you're going to that funeral whether you want to or not. No excuses. Do you understand?"

"Yes," I mumbled.

I looked at the clock. There was still another hour before, we'd need to leave. Ethan's parents wanted the funeral to be small. Only hunters would be there.

I replayed the day in my head, dragging out the events that had led up to Ethan's death. I shouldn't have let him go alone. I was stupid. I'd wanted to go with Nicole to see Anthony. I lied down on my bed and put the pieces of the puzzle together until I came up with a story that was plausible.

If Anthony and his brothers were working with Juana all along, that meant that Eric and Anthony most likely left with Juana. I always wondered where Eric was during all of this. Where did he fit into the plan? They probably figured that they should leave Mark with Emily so that he could slow down Nicole and me.

Of course, there was always Emily to consider. I couldn't make myself think that she helped them in any way. But, there was always the possibility. She called me several times after Ethan died, but I never answered.

There were a couple of things that did make sense, though. Like why Anthony and his brothers had looked so worried when I'd said Lucas' name. They were scared I'd find out their secret. Then there was the fact that Anthony had showed up pretty much the same time that Lucas had made his reappearance. I was so pissed at myself for being tricked so thoroughly.

Nicole walked into my room. "Hey, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, isn't it kind of early thought?" We weren't supposed to be leaving for another thirty minutes.

"Have you thought about how Emily could be involved in all of this?" she asked.

"I've thought about it, but I really have no idea. She never seemed evil, but neither did Anthony or his brothers."

"Well, we'll deal with Lucas and all his little minions first. Then we'll have to let the Administratio deal with Emily," she decided.

Her solution bothered me. I didn't think that Emily was helping Anthony or his brothers in any way. She was always so worried and on edge. It was possible that she found something out about them when, she _was_ living with them. I guess it was also possible that Juana messed with her mind since she was the one who turned her. Although why Juana turned her instead of killing her in the first place was a mystery. Unless, of course, she knew that she would get Emily's powers.

Ugh, I felt like screaming. This was all so confusing.

Nicole and I traded theories about what Lucas' master plan was, but we still couldn't come up with anything concrete.

"Maybe I should call Emily," I said.

Nicole shook her head. "I think I'd rather you didn't have any contact with anyone in that house for a while."

"Why?" I asked. "They tricked me, I get that now, but if I talk to Emily we might be able to find out something helpful."

"Unless she's in with them now, and she leads us on a wild goose chase, or into a trap," Nicole reminded me.

I sighed. "Well, what do we do then?"

"We're going to have to stick to more conventional methods." My sister ran a hand through her blond hair. She was probably getting a headache just like me.

Cheryl and Olivia came into the room. "Oh, so you're finally talking to people?" Olivia said to me.

I didn't say anything, but both Cheryl and Nicole gave her a weary look. "Evelyn, Ethan's parents are going to want to talk to you," Cheryl warned me carefully.

"I figured they would," I said. "It's fine, I'll talk to them."

Cheryl smiled, pleased that I wasn't going to put up a fight. "Everybody ready to leave?"

I was right about the funeral. Nobody cried, not even Ethan's parents. I managed to hold myself up. The entire service seemed surreal to me. I barely heard all the good things that were said about Ethan.

After they buried Ethan, we went over to Ethan's house. I flinched when his mother called me over. "Evelyn? Can I talk to you for a minute?" she'd said.

Ethan's mother, Caroline, was a woman of contrasts. She was short and blond and seemed motherly. Her voice was high pitched, almost overly sweet. Her hair was kept short and fell just past her face. She was seventy-one years old, but she looked thirty. When she called me over she had a fake smile plastered across her face.

"Greg and I have wanted to talk to you for a while now," she began. Greg was Ethan's father.

"I know, I'm sorry. Things are bad right now and I just…" I stopped. I really had no idea what I was saying. I should have thought about my story before coming. "Didn't Nicole tell you what happened?"

The smile disappeared from her face. "Yes, but I'd like to hear it first hand from you. I deserve to know what happened to my son, don't you think?" Her pursed lips and hard glare looked so out of place on what would have otherwise been a sweet face.

I nodded. "Ethan had left by himself. I met up with him after a while. I found him fighting with Lucas, and I wasn't able to stop Lucas from killing him."

Caroline just looked at me. "And that's all you can tell me?" I didn't like the way she scrutinized my face. It was like she could tell I was lying.

"That's all that happened," I responded. "Now, I think I should go home."

"Fine," she said curtly. "I'll call you if I have any more questions, and I'm sure Greg is going to want to talk to you later."

"Sure, no problem," I said, hoping she wouldn't catch how rushed the words came out.

I teleported back to the cemetery and found Ethan's grave. I didn't know why I was here. I just felt like I needed to go. I'd been barely coherent throughout the service. The more I stared at his tombstone, the more I felt like my insides were ripping apart.

"There you are!" I jumped when I heard someone talking to me. "Do you know how long I've been trying to contact you? I was getting worried that something happened to you too." Eric said to me.

I saw him and the rage I'd wanted to feel finally boiled up. I didn't know how I would hold up if I saw Anthony, but for now I could definitely take out my feelings on Eric.

Eric was about a foot away from me now. I didn't even think about it when I kicked him hard in the chest so that he fell on the floor and turned invisible.

"What the hell?" he gasped, standing up. "Evelyn?"

I punched him and the pushed him back on the ground again. At first, he just grasped at air, but then suddenly he managed to get a hold on my hair and he yanked it back.

"Ah!" I screamed and I lost my shield of invisibility. He held on to my arms tightly, giving me no opportunity to get away him.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Eric asked.

"Let go of me." I struggled against him without success.

Eric stared at me strangely for a minute. "Have you talked to Anthony recently? I haven't seen him since we left to get Juana a few days ago. I've been trying to get a hold of you. Emily told me you weren't answering your phone. She's really worried."

I stopped my attempt to fight him while he still held me firmly. What did he take me for? He didn't really think I'd fall for some stupid trick after what Anthony did, did he?

"Let go of me," I repeated. I wondered briefly if he would kill me now.

"Evelyn, what's wrong? Why are you trying to fight me?" he asked. I had to give it to him, he was a good actor. He looked honestly confused. Although, where he thought it would get him was beyond me.

"Because you're a vampire, and I am a vampire hunter. I thought it was obvious," I said in response to his question.

"Evelyn, are you out of your mind? I'm not going to hurt you. Now, do you anything at all about Anthony?" He was still holding me tightly, but his grip was gentler now. I think he was trying to get me to trust him, as if that was ever going to happen.

"I have no idea where Anthony is. The last time I saw him, he was helping your uncle – the one who killed my father, by the way – kill my best friend, along with Juana. I left after that event with the desire to never see him or you ever again," I said the words sharply.

Eric continued to look confused. I wondered when he was going to drop whatever game it was that he was trying to play. "Anthony wouldn't kill your friend, Evelyn. He loves you."

I laughed a sort of hysterical sound. "Yeah, sure. Listen, I am done putting up with all of this crap. I was stupid, I made a mistake. You and your brothers completely fooled me, but that won't be happening anymore."

"Look, I know you think that Anthony did something wrong, but I'm sure there's an explanation for—"

"No," I cut him off. "I don't _think_ anything. I saw with my own two eyes. And then I think I recall him slapping me across the face too. He used me for whatever nefarious plot it is that you guys have cooked up with your uncle. Now, for the last time, _let go of me._"

Finally, Eric released me. "He hit you?"

I rolled my eyes. "When are you going to give up this clueless little act?"

"When are you going to realize I'm not acting? Evelyn, we never lied to you. We're not evil," Eric said.

I rolled my eyes again. I was about to speak, but he stopped me.

"What about Emily? Are you just going to abandon her? Do you have any clue how worried she is about you? I wish I could be with her right now, but I promised her I would find out if you were okay. She wanted to come herself, but I convinced her it was too dangerous," Eric sounded like he was begging a little. I was beginning to think I'd underestimated how he felt about Emily.

"Well you can tell her I'm fine, and now I'm leaving."

I turned and froze. Standing, just a few feet away, was Anthony.

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_And the suspense drags on. So do you guys have any theories? I'd love to hear them. Think about the possibilities. Did Eric set Evelyn up? Is Anthony the only one who's evil out of him and his brothers? Or is it something entirely different going on here? The next update will be this week, I promise. _


	26. Chapter 26

_Hello my beautiful, wonderful, most fantastical readers. So, here I was yesterday all ready and excited to update for you good people, and when I go to post I get this lovely message saying that the document manager was down and that I should try back in a few minutes. Apparently by "a few minutes" they really meant tomorrow because I kept trying and it kept on telling me the same thing. So after glaring at the computer screen for a while, I realized that it did not feel the heat of my anger so I gave up and went to bed. But, I am updating now! :) I loved hearing your theories, and I am very proud of those of you who got it right. I did try to hint at the answer as much as possible. Anyways, as per usual, your reviews were wonderful. I'm thrilled that you all enjoy my writing. Would you guys believe that someone threatened to bite me if I didn't update soon? I am both a little creeped out and very flattered. I hope you all enjoy!_

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My entire body froze, completely against my wishes, of course, when I saw him standing there. I closed my eyes for a second. I could do this. I could be strong. I would not make any more mistakes with him.

I forced myself to look him straight in the eye. "Are you here to kill me now?" I asked coolly.

It bothered me that he wasn't looking at me with the same cold expression that I remembered from the night Ethan had died. It would have been so much easier to hate him if he looked like that. Right now, he just had a pained expression. "Evelyn," he whispered softly.

"Where have you been?" Eric asked him. "Do you know what I went through trying to find you? And why does Evelyn think you hit her?"

Anthony completely ignored his brother, keeping his eyes on me. "We need to talk," he said.

"There's nothing to talk about," I said. I glanced around at the crosses and tombstones that filled the cemetery. "Is your uncle here? The least you could do is warn me."

Eric looked back and forth between us. "Why would Lucas be here?"

We ignored him. "Evelyn," Anthony tried again. "I would never hurt you."

I rolled my eyes. "Too late."

I didn't understand why he wasn't attacking me. I began sizing up him and Eric the way I should have done the first time I'd ever seen them – like they were my enemies.

"Okay, obviously you guys aren't going to pay any attention to me. I'm going to get Mark and Emily," Eric told Anthony. He kept his eyes on me, like he was worried.

"No," I said. I couldn't see Emily now. I still hadn't figured out what I was going to do about her.

"She wants to know that you're safe," Eric said. He didn't stay to argue with me, he just left. He was fast, even for a vampire.

"Evelyn, please just give me a minute," Anthony begged when we were alone. I didn't say anything. I just kept my body tense, waiting for the attack I'm sure he was building up. "Think about it, vampires can control the vampires they turn. Juana has been messing with Emily's mind. Lucas turned me…"

I stared at him and let that sink in. Lucas turned Anthony. He could make Anthony do anything he wanted. That meant that Anthony really didn't hurt me. He'd had no control over what he was doing. I wanted to smack myself. He hadn't lied. He _was_ good. How could I have been so stupid that I couldn't put that together?

_Because you never really trusted him_, some strange, evil voice said in my head. No, that wasn't it, I argued with the voice. _It makes sense_, the voice said, _you're natural enemies_. No, that wasn't it. We'd been making it work, things had gone well for us. _You mean before or after Ethan died?_

Damn that voice. I wanted to run and kiss Anthony, the way they did it in the movies. I wanted him to comfort me.

_No_, the rational voice that'd I'd ignored for so long said. I shook off the immediate desire to forgive him, to try and move on from here. I couldn't just go back to the way things were.

"You never told me Lucas was your uncle," I accused. "Even after you found out he was the one who killed my father."

"I wanted to, Evelyn, but I didn't know how to tell you. I wanted to wait till we'd have the chance to be alone together, but we never were. Things kept getting in the way."

I shook my head. "We can't keep doing this. If I'd done what I was supposed to do in the first place – treat you like an enemy – my best friend wouldn't be dead right now. We're done."

I was proud of myself. I didn't cry or stutter, and my voice remained strong.

I didn't even have time to flinch when, all of a sudden, a knife whizzed past my face, missing it by an inch. Anthony managed to catch it before it was able to plunge into is heart.

I looked behind me and saw Ethan's mother, Caroline, step out of her hiding place. She looked at me in disgust. "I _knew_ something was up with you. Just wait till the Administratio finds out."

I looked at her in shock for a moment. "Caroline, what are you doing here?"

"I followed you, you little traitor. I wanted to find out something useful, and now I have."

I'd always had the feeling that Ethan's mother never liked me. I'd never thought that she downright hated me – well, except for right now – but I made tons of mistakes and there were times where I'd drag Ethan down with me. If I hadn't come from such a powerful family, I don't think she would have put up with my friendship with Ethan for so long.

Caroline had all of her attention focused on Anthony. I'd looked back and forth between them. I'd have to pick a side. I'd just told Anthony it was over, that he was enemy, and in theory, that was a simple concept. Actually putting my words into action was much, much more difficult.

Caroline already had two more knives out. She tossed one to me and then looked back to Anthony. If Caroline was in a fair fight with Anthony, I was one hundred percent sure that she would lose. As a hunter, Caroline was not particularly strong. Her power was X-ray vision, which was useful for sneaking around and finding out information, as well as other covert practices. It really wasn't much help to her during one on one fighting, and I knew she rarely, if ever hunted alone.

Regardless of the odds, Ethan was her son and the vampire who was partially responsible for his death was standing in front of her, so she would kill him or die trying.

Caroline gripped the hilt of her knife so tightly, her knuckles were white. She seemed to give herself five seconds of mental preparation before lunging at Anthony. He didn't move an inch.

Before Caroline could make contact with Anthony she was knocked out of the way. Suddenly Eric was standing in front of Anthony. "Are you crazy?" he asked his brother. "You could have at least moved."

Mark came and stood next to them. Emily was standing further off. I tried to communicate a _GET OUT OF HERE!_ look to her, but she just shook her head. Ugh, she really did have a death wish.

Caroline was glaring furiously at Eric. She knew what her chances were. She had to sense how powerful they were. Eric and Mark stood in front of Anthony in defensive positions. They wouldn't attack, but they would defend their brother if they had to.

I saw her gaze flicker to Emily for just a second before she returned her attention to the brothers.

"Guys, relax, I'll take care of this," Anthony said. "Go back to Emily."

Eric and Mark didn't move.

I decided this was the time for me to intervene. I didn't want this to get ugly. "Calm down," I said. "No one's going to fight. We were just leaving."

"No we're not," Caroline said. She pointed to Anthony. "If you kill him, I will make sure the Administratio doesn't punish you for your most recent escapades." Clearly, she'd figured out that Anthony wasn't going to do anything to stop me.

There was only one way for her to ensure that I wouldn't get in trouble – she would have to keep my secret. I didn't even consider it. "No, Caroline, they're powerful. And they out number us." I tried to appeal to reason.

She just glared at me.

I looked at Eric and unlike Emily, he heeded my _GET OUT OF HERE!_ look. It took all three seconds for him, his brothers, and Emily to disappear from sight.

"You little traitor," Caroline snarled at me. Her high pitched voice sounded wrong when it tried to convey anger. "Get home, right now."

I teleported to the living room of my house and found Cheryl and Olivia sitting there. "Where's Nicole?" I asked just as she was walking in.

"Where have you been?" Cheryl asked me. "You can't just disappear like that, Evelyn. Especially now, with everything that's going on."

"Sorry," I mumbled as Caroline teleported in.

"You have no idea how much trouble you're going to be in," she hissed at me. "You're father's probably rolling in his grave because his daughter is dating a vampire."

"What?!" Cheryl and Olivia jumped to their feet.

"And not just any vampire," Caroline continued, "the nephew of the vampire who killed him. I feel sorry for your mother because she's going to have to come home to this. I trust I can leave you in your sisters' hands while I tell the Administratio about your little friends."

"Wait a minute, Caroline," Cheryl stopped her. "I don't understand, what's going on? Evelyn wouldn't date a vampire, especially not one that was related to Lucas."

I looked at the floor when I spoke. "I didn't know he was related to Lucas."

Olivia made a sound of disgust. The shock was frozen on Cheryl's face. Nicole kept her face carefully blank.

"Evelyn, why?" Cheryl asked. She had a sad expression now.

I didn't say anything in response. What could I possibly say? I was sure the words "I fell in love with him" would not go over well.

"The Administratio needs to find out _now_," Caroline insisted. "I'm going to speak with them. I would suggest making sure your sister doesn't leave the house." With those lovely words, Caroline teleported out of the house.

It was all too easy to be angry with Caroline. I wanted to hate her, but I reminded myself that she had very good reasons to be upset with me. Still, I felt a flicker of rage towards her.

"Are you out of your mind?" Olivia hissed at me. "How do you ever decide that dating a vampire would be a good idea? How could you possibly look at yourself in the mirror and say 'yeah, this feels right?'"

It was a lot easier than she would think. I knew I was going to have to talk soon. I couldn't stay silent forever, but anything I said now would sound wrong. It was too much all at once. I'd let this go too far, and I was so tangled up in my web of lies that there was no way for me to get out of it.

I would be facing some terrible punishment when Caroline finished telling the Administratio about what I'd done, but I didn't feel like talking to my sisters.

Cheryl walked out of the room without a word. "Where are you going?" Olivia asked, outraged that Cheryl seemed to be leaving without yelling at me.

Cheryl returned about a minute later holding a bottle and a glass of water. I saw the bottle and I knew she'd been in our mother's room. Cheryl poured the contents of the bottle into the water which turned a dark, midnight blue color. Olivia relaxed when she saw what Cheryl was doing. Nicole remained unresponsive.

I knew exactly what the liquid was that Cheryl had poured into the water. It was a concoction that hunters had come up with for traitors such as myself. It stopped the ability to teleport, not indefinitely, but considering the amount Cheryl had poured into the water, I wouldn't be teleporting anywhere for about two weeks.

I knew my attempt would futile, but I couldn't just give up my power so easily. So when Cheryl handed me the glass of course I protested. "Cheryl that's not necessary."

Cheryl is one of those nice people who you don't like to upset, not because they're so nice that their pain becomes your pain, but because when they get pissed it's so out of character, it's scary.

"Since you've been sneaking around with the brethren of the vampire who _killed out father_, clearly it is necessary," my oldest sister growled at me.

I took the glass and slowly put it to my lips. Cheryl was staring me down. She would make sure I drank every drop even if she had to shove it down my throat, I was sure. "Wait," Nicole spoke for the first time. "Is it safe to take away her powers with everything that's been going on? If she comes across Lucas, it's dangerous for her to not have the ability to teleport away."

"Not if she's sucking face with his nephew. I'm sure she could pull a few strings to save her skin," Olivia said.

"Olivia, stop it," Cheryl admonished quietly. "Evelyn, drink it." To Nicole she said, "She won't be going anywhere to have to worry about that any time soon."

I put the glass to my mouth. It was a thick liquid, and it did not go down smoothly. It felt like slime was falling down my throat. I was thankful that it tasted just like water.

"Go to your room, Evelyn," Cheryl ordered.

Without a word, I left to do exactly as she said. There was nothing I wanted more than to be by myself. I knew it wouldn't last long, though. I was certain Nicole would be up here to find out what happened the first chance she got.

If I could, I was going to keep it a secret that Nicole had known what was going on. She'd done a lot to help me, and there was absolutely no reason why she should go down with me.

I threw myself down on my bed. I felt like I should be crying or sulking, but I felt numb. The entire time I'd been dating Anthony I'd known I would get in trouble if the Administratio found out, but my mind had never gone so far as to anticipate exactly what that trouble would be. I had no idea what to expect. I'd never heard another hunter who dated a vampire.

Vampires were damned. That was how hunters viewed them, as evil, damned, demonic creatures. They were stuck with immortality and a sick need for blood and a wicked streak that made them relish death – with the exception of Anthony and his brothers.

We, as hunters, were the enemies who could stop them. We were nothing like them. Our immortality helped us do good. We felt no pleasure from killing and torturing. It was our job, our responsibility to stop them. But that responsibility took so much away.

Hunters were blind to change. They wouldn't ever accept that there could possibly be a good vampire. They wouldn't accept Emily when Caroline confirmed the suspicion that she'd been turned. I didn't know how I could help her now. A zero tolerance policy for all vampires was what made our methods to wipe them out effective. We would continue to fight vampires whether we viewed it as a job, a responsibility, or a liability.

I realized something that the other hunters would never acknowledge. We were damned after all.


	27. Chapter 27

_Senior year + college applications + 5 AP classes = NO time to write. I'm sorry. I know every author's note I post seems to be an apology, but I really am busy. Thanks to Andrew and Haybell for reminding to me to focus on my story. Seriously, I've been so stressed and busy, it's hard to sit down and write. Thank you guys for all of your fantastic reviews especially when I don't deserve them. Just a warning, this chapter is chalkfull of mistakes. I only did a quick once over because I was anxious to post. I know I've been neglecting my writing, but there really aren't enough hours in the day. Plus I have other characters in other stories who tend to get upset when I don't give them all equal attention. (I won't even tell you guys how long it's been since I've updated my other story). __But, like I've promised I will finish this story even if it takes 10 years (I really hope that doesn't happen). __Anyways, I love you guys a lot and I want to say thank you for reading my writing. I'm thrilled that you guys enjoy my story. :)

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I ended up falling asleep while I was up in my room. When I woke up my alarm clock read six AM. I was surprised that no one had come to talk to me. I was even more surprised that I'd managed to sleep for as long as I had. Although, I really couldn't imagine who would even want to see me. I did think that Nicole would come try to find out what had happened though, but she was probably busy dealing with our mother's disappearance.

I remained in bed and stared up at the ceiling. The numbness I had initially felt after the disaster was beginning to wear off. Reality was starting to crash down, and I realized that my biggest problems were not how miserable I was because of my breakup with Anthony. The Administratio would not be lenient or understanding and they were not above the death sentence.

It bothered me to no end that breaking up with Anthony was affecting me this much. I was not the girl who cried over her boyfriend. Besides, it had been _me_ who broke up with _him_, not the other way around. Still, it was ripping me apart in a way I didn't like.

I sat up when I heard my door open about an hour later. "Hey," Nicole said, walking in and closing the door quietly.

I didn't say anything. I just looked at her.

"You're going to have to talk to someone sometime," she said.

"He's not evil," I said softly.

"Anthony?" she asked.

I was surprised that she didn't get angry about me defending Anthony when there were so many problems that were the result of my relationship with him. But it was good that she was being nice. I wouldn't be able to deal with her if she came in here to chew my head off.

"Yeah, Lucas turned him into a vampire, the way Juana did with Emily. Juana was able to control Emily so it makes sense that Lucas can control Anthony and his brothers." I sounded robotic.

"Hmm, speaking of Emily, does Caroline know about her?"

I nodded. "They were all there. Caroline just looked at her, I guess she'll tell the Administratio about her along with everything else."

"What I don't understand is why Caroline would pass up the chance to kill them. I mean obviously she followed you because she was suspicious, but why not follow through with revenge?" Nicole mused.

"She tried. She's just not that good. Anthony didn't move when she tried to attack him, but Eric and Mark got in the way. She tried to make me do it. She even offered to keep my secret if I killed him, but I said no."

I waited for her to tell me I was an idiot for not taking Caroline up on the offer when I had the chance.

"Good," she said.

"What?" I was sure I hadn't heard her right.

"I'm glad you didn't listen to her. Now, I still think you _are an idiot_ for hooking up with a vampire, but Caroline was probably lying. She would have told the Administratio anyway, and then we wouldn't be able to help Emily – which I still want to do, by the way."

"But she _is_ telling the Administratio. We _won't_ be able to help Emily," I said, morosely.

"Well, we have a better chance than we would've had if Anthony and his brothers died. At least they're people there to keep her safe. I'll stop by to see her the first chance I get."

"When you do, will you tell her I'm sorry? When I thought Anthony was evil, I kind of didn't talk to her…" I wasn't sure how to explain it. I hadn't thought that Emily was involved with Ethan's death, but I just didn't want any kind of connection to Anthony.

"Sure," Nicole said. "But I want to find out what the Administratio's going to do before I have any kind of contact with them."

Before we could say anything else, Cheryl walked in without knocking. Rudeness wasn't her usual style, but my guess was that she was still angry.

"The Administratio's giving you a hearing tonight at eight o'clock," she informed me. "You better be ready on time. Come on Nicole, I need to talk to you."

Clearly the fact that Nicole and I had obviously been in the middle of a conversation wasn't a matter of importance in my oldest sister's eyes.

They walked out, and I wondered if Cheryl really wanted to talk to Nicole or if that was just a ploy to keep her away from me. She was probably worried that I would corrupt Nicole with my traitorous ways. Still, it was possible that she would be telling her about my trial or about Mom.

I left my room, fully intending to do some eavesdropping, but found that Olivia had already beaten me to the punch.

She was standing outside Cheryl's bedroom door in a casual way so that if one of the two walked out it would appear as if she was just walking by.

She saw that I'd caught her but didn't even look remotely guilty. "What are you going to do? Tell on me? Trust me compared to what you did, there's no way I'd get in trouble for anything," she sneered.

"Oh shut up, I want to listen too," I said, not in the mood to go back and forth with her.

She rolled her eyes but didn't antagonize me anymore.

"Are you sure you didn't know about Evelyn? Anything at all? There was no suspicious behavior? You never saw her with him at school?" Cheryl was drilling Nicole wit questions, and I hated myself for putting her in that position.

"Nothing," Nicole lied flawlessly. "I mean I caught her skipping school once, and she told me she was hunting. She might have been seeing him, but I really didn't think anything of it. Or she could've actually been hunting. I really don't know anything."

"I really hope you aren't protecting her," Cheryl said.

"Of course I'm not protecting her. Why would I? What she did was wrong. Did you ask Olivia all these questions you're asking me?" Nicole asked, a little accusingly.

"No," Cheryl admitted, "but I really don't think it's likely she would know anything. If she did, she would've told on Evelyn the second she found out. She's really not as close to Evelyn as you are."

"Well I don't know anything about Evelyn and that vamp," Nicole said.

"What about when you were just in her room? Did she tell you anything then?" now Cheryl just seemed desperate for information.

"She was telling me about what happened with Caroline and the vamps."

"Vamps? As in more than one?" Cheryl clung to the little piece of new information. I didn't mind Nicole telling Cheryl about Eric and Mark, she would find out sooner or later.

"Apparently the vamp she was with had brothers," Nicole said.

Cheryl was quiet for a moment. "I need you to do something for me."

Nicole sounded wary when she spoke. "What is it?"

"I need you to find out as much as you can from Evelyn about whatever it was that she was doing with that vampire."

"What? I thought Evelyn was having her hearing tonight. We'll find out everything then," Nicole said, voice still wary.

I could practically see Cheryl rolling her eyes. "Like she's going to tell the whole story. If she can get away with it, she'll tell them as little as possible."

"You know, _you_ could try talking to her. She might tell you whatever it is that you want to know," Nicole suggested.

"I seriously doubt that," Cheryl said curtly. "Just find out what you can, okay? I heard that Caroline said she saw Emily as a vampire. Obviously Evelyn's been keeping more secrets than she's been letting onto."

At that point Olivia turned around and stared at me, her mouth hanging open slightly. She mouthed Emily's name obviously looking for some kind of confirmation about what she'd just heard.

Not in the mood to deal with her, I turned around and walked back to my room. On a whim, I looked at my phone and saw that I had three missed calls and two voicemails, all from Anthony. He'd tried text messaging me too. I deleted everything without looking at it.

I realized about ten minutes too late how bad my impulsiveness was. I should've stayed to listen to Cheryl and Nicole's conversation. Cheryl might have let on to more of what she knew. But, it was too late to change that now.

Instead, I spent my day lying on my bed allowing the numbness to seep into my system. I didn't want to freak myself out. The only thing in my favor would be that my mother wasn't going to be at the hearing.

Around lunchtime Cheryl came into my room. I was hoping for Nicole, but at least it wasn't Olivia.

"You need to eat," she said, setting down two slices of pizza and a bottle of water on my nightstand.

"Sure, thanks," I mumbled waiting for her to leave.

She didn't.

Cheryl just stood there. A normal person would have at least had the decency to appear a little awkward, but not my big sister. She stood there, probably relishing in my discomfort.

That was an unfair description. Cheryl really didn't have a vindictive bone in her body. No, she was too rational for that.

Finally, she spoke. "So," she began.

"So?" I repeated cautiously.

"I'm not allowed to question you," she said. "Those are orders from the Administratio."

"Okaaay," I said, drawing out the word. I wasn't sure exactly where she was going with this.

"But that doesn't mean you can't tell me anything without my questioning you," she continued.

I stared at her blankly for a moment. "What do you want from me Cheryl?"

"I want to know what you were thinking. That vamp was related to Lucas, of all people. He probably has something to do with Mom being missing. And if you could only hear the rumors that are going around! Caroline's been telling everyone what she saw…"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I was going through the worst crisis of my life, and my sister was worried about how I embarrassed the family. "I'm so sorry this has been difficult for you. I can't imagine what you're going through right now," I said. I regretted the words as soon as they were out of my mouth. It didn't help that my voice had carried a distinct sarcastic undertone.

Cheryl glared at me now. "You think I'm upset because people are gossiping? Or that I care that that petty woman who can't keep her mouth shut refuses to tell me anything about what she saw? Our _mother_ is missing. And you seem to very well connected to why that is."

I took a breath. "Anthony didn't have anything to do with Mom going missing. That was all Lucas." It was also Juana, but I wasn't sure it was the time to give away her part in this mess.

"So that's his name," she said with a bit of triumph in her voice. Obviously she'd come here looking for information, she seemed pleased with herself for being able to obtain this tidbit.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be questioning me. Just leave me alone, okay? I don't need you to psych me out when I have a hearing coming up in a few hours. I'll practically be walking to my execution, so I don't need my last few hours to be full of this crap." I was being touchy when I knew full well that I had no right to be. The entire hunting community had a very good reason to be pissed at me and calling for my blood, but that didn't mean I had to be rational about it.

"You know, I really don't want the Administratio to punish you tonight. I actually _really_ hope they don't. You know too much about everything. I want them to find Mom and then have _her_ punish you."

I rolled my eyes so that she wouldn't see how much the idea of that kind of punishment terrified me.

"Speaking of Mom and how much our little sister here has to do with her disappearance maybe Evelyn would like to enlighten us as to why Mom called her on that day she went missing," Olivia said as she walked into the room.

"Olivia, get ou—" Cheryl started.

"Oh, come on you know you're curious about it too," Olivia cut her off. Then she looked at me. "Well? Spit it out, it's not like you have any more secrets."

Cheryl was still focused on admonishing Olivia. "Were you eavesdropping?"

Olivia laughed at the question. "Of course I was eavesdropping. It's not like you tell me anything, so I have to get creative about extracting my information. Besides it's not like Evelyn wasn't doing the same thing when you were talking to Nicky earlier."

I threw a pillow at Olivia as if the soft, fluffy object would actually hurt her and felt my blood boil as she laughed cruelly.

"Evelyn," Cheryl said sharply.

"What? You were talking about me. If you could listen in on a conversation where people were talking about you, you would do it too. Besides, she" I jabbed a finger in Olivia's direction, "was doing it too."

"And speaking of that conversation you had with Nicole, I'm not going to tell her any more than what I've already told you."

Cheryl just shook her head. "I can't do this. Come on Olivia," she said walking out of the room.

When they were gone, I took a bite out of the pizza Cheryl had left me. It tasted like cardboard with cheese on it. I forced myself to eat both slices and I chugged the entire bottle of water.

When I was finished I stared at my closet wondering what I should wear for the hearing. I wanted to look respectable. Hearings were rare for hunters. There usually weren't very many trouble makers such as myself, but because of their rareness, they were usually a big deal. All hunters sixteen and up were allowed to come and input from everyone was allowed and even encouraged.

I settled on some hunting gear – nondescript black pants and a black shirt with black boots. I showered and changed into the clothes even though it was ridiculously early to be getting ready for the hearing and then I spent the next half hour combing the knots out of my brown hair.

I stared at myself in the mirror thinking about how much everyone said I looked like my dad. I wondered what he would think about me now. Possibilities swirled around in my mind before I pushed the thoughts away not wanting to let my imagination run away.

Nicole brought my dinner up, and I had to wonder if she'd done so with some prodding from Cheryl to drill me with questions. But when she set down the square of lasagna in front of me, she didn't say a word.

She leaned against the wall and watched me use the fork to cut up the lasagna. "Do you know how many people are coming?" I finally asked.

She shrugged. "A good bit – everyone who had any kind of relationship with Ethan or Emily, and then everyone who's been trying to find Mom."

I nodded. I was expecting a big turnout. _All_ of the hunters could come of course. But this was a juicy story. The daughter of a member from the Administratio was dating the nephew of the vampire who killed her father. Future criminals would find my indiscretions hard to beat.

Nicole went and opened my bedroom door to check the hallway. I stared at her curiously.

"There seems to be an eavesdropping epidemic going around in this house," she explained.

"Oh," I said. I focused on my lasagna so she wouldn't see my guilt.

"I talked to Emily today," she said casually.

"What? You did? What did she say? I thought you were going to wait to talk to her?" My questions came out so quickly I was surprised she understood what I said.

Nicole waited for me to calm down. "I was going to wait. She called me. I made sure Cheryl and Olivia weren't listening. She's really worried about you. She feels bad that you're in trouble, she wanted to expose herself."

"What?!" Before I could go ballistic, Nicole stopped me.

"Relax, I talked her out of it. She said she's been having more trouble with her memory, but for the most part she's okay."

"Oh, that must have something to do with Juana." I paused. "Did she say anything else?" I asked hesitantly. I refused to ask outright about what I wanted to about the most.

"She said Anthony won't talk to her, or anyone," Nicole told me, catching on to my ambiguous question. "She really wants to talk to you. I told her she'd have to wait to see how the hearing plays out."

I sighed. I couldn't wait for this trial to be over. Nicole stayed with me while I ate; we were silent most of the time.

Finally, Cheryl came into the room. "Come on, it's time to go."

I took a deep breath, time to face the executioners.

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_I know I make you guys wait a lot, so if you review, I'll send you a preview of the next chapter by Saturday, 10/3. :D_


	28. Chapter 28

_I won't bore you all with my super long apology. I wish I wasn't so busy so that I could write more. I never intended for there to be such huge gaps in between my updates when I first started writing this. Thanks for sticking with me even though I'm horrible about updating regularly. Thank you for all your reviews. I appreciate them more than you know. Enjoy the chapter!_

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My hearing would take place at Andrew's house. He had been a member of the Administratio the longest and a lot of official business took place there because it was so large. I assumed they would be expecting a big turnout for my trial.

Cheryl teleported me there since I couldn't do it on my own, and I resisted the urge to cringe when the entire room stared at me. Of course Cheryl would teleport me straight into the middle of the room. It was situated like a ballroom, with round tables all around for people to sit. I noticed that all the seats were filled up and some people were standing. The members of the Administratio were seated up front at a rectangular table facing everyone else.

The tables at the front of the room were reserved for the guilty party and the people speaking out against them. Caroline had a vindictive look on her face when I looked at her. Ethan's father, Greg, kept perfect composure. His face was like stone, but he didn't even glance at me. He stared straight ahead, not seeming to focus on anyone or anything in the room.

A hushed bit of chatter erupted in the room after the initial shock of my entrance wore off. There were whispers coming from everywhere so I couldn't make out what anyone was saying, but I could make a fairly decent guess. I was certain no one was on my side.

I saw the nine members of the Administratio already seated in front of everyone else. There was an empty chair at the table – my mother's chair. Only two of them, Rick and Priya, bothered to look at me. I knew that if there was any leniency in my punishment tonight it would be because of them. Rick was the youngest and generally easy going about everything. I was confident he would listen to my side of the story the most. Priya was my mother's friend. She was an Indian woman who was about thirty-five years old. When she looked at me I saw the pity in her eyes.

I knew I would get no sympathy at all from Eileen and Sandra. They were two harsh, very no nonsense women who were good friends. It also didn't help that Eileen was Caroline's sister.

Andrew knew the rules better than anyone else. So while he knew all the rules to convict a criminal, he was also good at finding a few loopholes to save someone.

Patrick was Sandra's husband, so I had could guess about what his opinion would be towards me.

Darren, I knew had been one of my father's friends, and he was a wildcard in my mind. I really didn't know him that well, and I couldn't guess how he would vote.

Cheryl led me to the empty table that was reserved for me and I was surprised that all of my sisters sat down with me. I half expected them to let me deal with this one on my own or be ashamed to be seen with the outcast. But even Olivia walked dutifully next to me even though everyone stared.

"Let's begin," Andrew said in his deep voice. He looked to be in his late thirties although he was actually eighty-five. He had light brown hair with a bit of gray in it and light blue eyes. He had a prominent chin and his muscles, though obviously apparent, were not exceptionally huge.

The room had fallen silent and everyone waited anxiously. I started fidgeting and cursing myself internally. I'd had all day to think about this, but not once had it crossed my mind to come with a story. I wouldn't lie, it would be pointless. But if I'd thought about it, I might have been able to be prepared with at least a few rebuttals.

"This trial is for Evelyn Sinclair," Andrew continued. "Caroline Bentley will speak first."

Caroline stood up and she didn't face the Administratio or the rest of the other hunters while she spoke. No, she faced me.

She cleared her throat before she began to speak in her sickly sweet voice. "As you all know, my son Ethan died recently, and Evelyn here was the only one to witness it. Instead of providing full details or even vaguely useful information, she told a half baked story I refused to buy." She paused for a minute letting that sink in. "On the day of my son's funeral, she left the wake to see his grave. There I found her with a vampire who mentioned having a romantic relationship with her before being involved in my son's death. When I made my presence apparent, I tried to kill the vampire who I found to be partially responsible for Ethan's death. Evelyn refused to help when two other vampires showed up and allowed them to get away. She deserves very strict punishment. This type of behavior cannot be tolerated in the least."

There was a murmur of approval from the crowd. I knew what the general consensus was. No one would be on my side, with the possible exception of Nicole who couldn't even support me without ruining herself along the way.

"So kill her," someone said.

Every head in the room turned toward the voice and my mouth dropped when I saw my mother standing in the doorway.

There was a collective gasp in the room. Suddenly, the night was no longer about me.

"Ava," Andrew whispered my mother's name.

"By all means, just punish her," my mother continued, "just completely ignore the fact that she could have possibly gained some useful information from that vampire. As long as we indulge your whims everything will solve itself, won't it Caroline?"

"Mom," Cheryl and Olivia jumped up and practically ran to her. Other hunters were starting to crowd around my mother, all of them wanting to know how she could be here.

"Settle down everyone!" Sandra, called out.

I was frozen in my chair. Nicole had stood up, but she seemed torn between going to our mother and staying next to me.

Sandra started talking to my mother when people seemed to get over the initial shock. "Ava, we need to tell you about the trial we're in the middle of. I hate to burden you with this right now, but –"

Mom cut her off. "I know why Evelyn's on trial. Lucas informed me that his nephew was involved with my daughter."

I looked at my mother and was surprised at how put together she seemed. Her hair was perfectly combed into a neat bun. There were new bandages on her arm and she had all of her knives.

"Ava, I am happy that you're okay, but offended that you think wanting my son's death avenged is a whim," Caroline said.

"Evelyn was not the one who killed him," Mom replied calmly.

"All the vampires involved will die, obviously," Patrick said. "The fact that Evelyn's involvement made it easier for Ethan to die is why she is on trial."

Every time someone mentioned my involvement in Ethan's death it felt like I was punched.

"How do you plan on killing them? Or even finding them? How do you know that Evelyn did orchestrate scheme, albeit a naïve one, to get information from these vampires?" I was surprised by the way my mother defended me.

"I heard her conversation with him at the cemetery. It was no scheme, Ava. She all but admitted it the day I found her with him." Caroline practically snarled.

My mother kept her cool as she stared Caroline down. "So far we've only heard a one sided story. And regardless of whether or not it was a scheme, I believe we should allow Evelyn an opportunity to redeem herself."

I was confused about how my mother could stand there looking as calm as ever while everyone had been panicking for so long. I'd never considered how she would react about my relationship with Anthony, but I supposed that was part of my problem. I don't think ahead.

"By all means," she continued, "Let us completely disregard the idea that Evelyn may have some very valuable information."

"Now, now," Andrew said before Caroline could respond, "No one's made a decision yet. The hearing's just begun."

Ethan's father spoke for the first time. He spoke evenly, but I could hear the anger in his voice. "Since when do we allow traitors opportunities to redeem themselves, Ava? I think you may be biased because this concerns your daughter."

"And I think you may be biased because this concerns your son," Mom retorted. She continued to speak before Ethan's parents could get another word in. "In light of what I've learned while I was away, I think we should hold off on this trial for a bit longer."

"Obviously she'll tell the information she has first," Caroline said.

My mother snorted. "I raised my daughter with better bargaining skills than that."

"The girl isn't just going to give everything up and then let us kill her," Greg said quietly to his wife.

"If she doesn't want to be any more of a traitor than she already is…" Caroline was furious.

"Wait a minute, Ava," Andrew said. "How would you propose having Evelyn redeem herself?"

Caroline's mouth dropped in outrage. "You're not considering this," she half screamed in her high pitched voice.

"Relax, Caroline. I'm just considering the options that we have. Yes, Evelyn did something very wrong, and I know she was aware that she knew what she was doing, but she is still only sixteen years old. If Ava has a suitable punishment for her daughter that is not death then I would like to hear it." Rick said all of this very carefully.

I began to feel my hopes rising. If enough members of the Administratio agreed that I wouldn't have to die, then Caroline couldn't do anything about it.

"Well," Mom started, "regardless of whether or not Evelyn had a scheme in mind, she must have gained some valuable information. She must have something that could help us take down Lucas."

"This is ridiculous," Caroline screeched. "Where have you even been all this time, Ava? You go missing for so long, and show up here trying to save your daughter after she committed an unforgivable crime." Caroline paused to take a breath before turning to the rest of the Administratio. "If you ask me, the whole family is corrupt."

I was glad when I saw Priya stood up to speak. "In light of these events, perhaps it would be best to postpone Evelyn's trial so that we may deal with some of our bigger problems," she said, taking charge.

"Bigger problems? My son is dead," Caroline hissed.

"Caroline, this is the life we live," Andrew said in a chastising tone. "We are all very sorry about Ethan, but we must focus on finding Lucas, who if I may remind you is the one primarily responsible for Ethan's death."

"I agree," said Greg. "Lucas is the biggest threat right now."

Caroline looked around the room in outrage one more time before deflating. "I want to help kill him," she said after a big sigh.

A hunter I didn't know came running in to the room before anyone could respond to Caroline's statement. He was young, probably about eighteen or nineteen, with bleach blonde hair down to his shoulders and a lot of acne. He had a wild, excited look on his face. "We've found her. We found Emily."

Everyone started talking at once. Nicole and I exchanged a worried look.

"Enough of this," my mother said. She pointed to hunter, "you stay here," she ordered. "Cheryl, Olivia, Nicole, take Evelyn home and stay there. Everyone else, you're all dismissed."

I could see Olivia and Nicole open their mouths to protest, but before anything could come out Cheryl was there ready to take us all back with force if necessary. I knew better than to stay anything. Any argument from me was not going to help anything. As it was, I'd been incredibly lucky tonight as far as my trial went. I needed to get to Emily though. I had no idea how long she had now that the hunters seemed to have found her.


	29. Chapter 29

_I know, I know, I'm terrible with updates. Thank you for sticking with me despite how awful I am. Also, thank you for your reviews. I appreciate each one so much. I'm not making any promises, but I am going to do my very best to finish We're Damned After All this summer. We'll see how it goes. Here's the chapter. :)_

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I was on edge by the time we got back to the house. Cheryl released her grip on me, but Olivia pushed me down to sit on the couch.

"What do you know?" she demanded.

I stared at her blankly. There was no way I was about to give anything up. Olivia continued to glare at me.

"Olivia, relax," Nicole said as she pulled Olivia away from me.

"No, stop defending her. She knows way more than she's letting on. Where's Emily?" Olivia demanded.

"Mom will find out what she needs to from Evelyn, Olivia," Cheryl said softly. "Our biggest problem has been fixed. We have Mom back."

Cheryl sank down into an armchair. I hadn't noticed how tired she'd been looking these past few days.

Olivia pursed her lips and looked from Cheryl to Nicole. When she realized that she wouldn't be getting any support from them, she visibly deflated. "I don't like living with a traitor."

"Yeah Olivia, you should really make sure to sleep with one eye open, I might just bring a hoard of my vampire friends to get you," I told her coldly.

"Give it a rest, you two," Cheryl said with a sigh. "Nicky, can you take Evelyn to her room? Sit down, Olivia."

Nicole followed me upstairs, and as soon as we were both in the room, I shut the door. "We have to do something," I said.

Nicole grabbed my cell phone and searched through the contacts for Anthony's number. She put it on speaker phone.

"Don't say a word," she warned as she pressed the call button. He picked up on the second ring.

"Evelyn? Are you okay?" My heart twisted at how hopeful he sounded.

"This isn't Evelyn, leech," Nicole said, harshly. "Where's Emily?"

Anthony didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Why?"

"Because hunters have spotted her, that's why. They know she's a vampire. My people will not tolerate one of our own being turned. They will find her and kill her. You need to make sure she leaves now. Let me speak to her."

"Where's Evelyn?" Anthony asked.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Nicole glared at me. "She's fine," Nicole answered, curtly.

Anthony sighed in relief, and then I heard muffled talking through the phone.

"Nicole? Is something wrong?" Emily sounded frantic. "How's Evelyn? Is she okay? Anthony told me about Caroline. Please don't tell me you were lying to him. I'm surprised she hasn't had her hearing yet."

"Put it on speakerphone," I heard Eric say in the background.

"Her hearing was tonight –" Nicole began to explain.

"What? You said that she was fine," Anthony's voice was raised.

Enough of this, I did get a sick pleasure from Anthony being so concerned about me, but we had big problems to deal with.

"I _am_ fine," I said. "My hearing was interrupted. My mother's back."

Nicole glared at me before she started talking again. "Emily, there were hunters at Evelyn's trial who said they found you. Did you go out today?"

"I was out with Eric," she said. "Do they know about the house? How'd your mom get away from Lucas?"

"We don't know," Nicole answered. "Look, just get out of there as soon as you can. Okay? You have to be careful. Since Caroline saw that you're a vampire they'll want to kill you."

"We'll all leave now," Eric said. "We have a house that's closer to the beach."

"I was talking to Emily," Nicole snarled. "I'll call when we have more information."

She threw my phone back to me, and walked out of the room. She was back within two minutes, her face still furious.

"What's your problem?" I asked.

"I warned you not to talk," she said.

"I wasn't planning to," I protested. "Anthony and Emily weren't letting you get to the point. I kept it short."

"It doesn't matter. I don't want you having any more contact with that vampire, period. He's the reason we're in this mess."

I didn't argue with her. I knew she was frustrated about all the secrets she had to keep for me.

"Why did you go downstairs just now?" I asked to change the subject.

"I wanted to see what Cheryl and Olivia were doing," she said. "Olivia's still suspicious, which is just another reason why you shouldn't have anything more to do with that vampire."

"You don't have to lecture me," I mumbled. I couldn't resist talking back while she was being so harsh with me even though I knew I would lose the battle.

Nicole's face took on a look of mock surprise. "I don't have to lecture you?"

"I broke up with Anthony. I told him we were done," I said meekly.

Nicole rolled her eyes and went to sit on my bed. She took a breath before she spoke to me again.

"Anthony is a vampire. You shouldn't have anything to do with him. You _never_ should have had anything to do with him. But that's not our problem right now." She took my cell phone again and scrolled through all of the contacts. "Emily doesn't have her own phone?"

I shook my head. "She lost it after she was turned. She never really got around to getting a new one. If I ever wanted to talk to her I called Anthony. She usually uses their house line when she calls me."

Nicole started copying numbers from my phone into hers. "I don't want you talking to them at all," she said.

"But what if I need to talk to Emily?" I asked.

"I will take care of Emily from now on. You need to keep a low profile." Nicole glanced at the alarm clock. "It's late, get some rest. If Mom comes home I'll wake you up."

With that she left me to my thoughts. I tried to take her advice and go to sleep, but it wasn't working. I was too worried, and after an entire day of being cooped up in my room, I wasn't exactly tired. All of the events at my trial hadn't worn me out either, if anything it got my adrenaline going.

Somehow or another I must have fallen asleep though because the next thing I knew Nicole was standing over me, nudging my shoulder. "Evelyn, wake up. Mom's home, she wants to talk to you."

I squinted at the clock on my nightstand. It was seven o'clock in the morning. I told Nicole that I would be downstairs after I changed out of my pajamas. In reality, I just needed some time to pull myself together and work out what I would tell my mother. I did not want to envision this conversation with my mother. The woman was tough. Needless to say, she scared me.

The thought of this one on one conversation intimidated me more than the hearing had last night. Still, after a quick mental pep talk and a not so quick period of procrastination, I convinced myself to head downstairs where I saw my mother sitting at the dining table with my sisters all around her.

My mother was stirring sugar into a cup of tea, and she appeared to be carrying on casual conversation with my sisters. They all stopped talking when I walked in.

"Girls, I need to speak to Evelyn alone," my mother said, calmly.

I took a seat at the opposite end of the table out of a fear that my mother would strangle me once our conversation got started. Nicole was the only one who looked at me as they filed out of the room. I wondered if they were planning to stay and eavesdrop.

My mom didn't say anything for a while. She sat staring at me, occasionally sipping at her tea. "Would you like one?" She held up a plate of croissants.

I hesitated at her strange approach. "Sure."

I nibbled at it cautiously. I didn't have much of an appetite at that moment, and it did cross my mind that the croissant was poisoned…

"So, his name's Anthony?" my mother asked. Her voice was gentle, soft. It threw me off. I was expecting the stern tone she usually had with me.

"Yes," I answered slowly. "Anthony Carson."

"And he has brothers?"

"Yes, Eric and Mark, they all live together," I said. Surely she'd heard this by now. It occurred to me that she might be trying to weasel information out of me.

"And Emily stays with them, correct?"

I hesitated at that one. Above all I wanted to protect Emily – it wasn't her fault Juana turned her into a vampire – but I realized that Caroline had to have given away all the details when she found me with Anthony.

"Yes." I resolved to keep my answers short in the hope that I wouldn't let anything slip.

"You lied to me that day when I called you. I specifically told you that it was important for you to tell me the truth, and you lied anyway." She allowed a little of her no nonsense manner to slip back into her voice. This was mother I knew and loved.

She hadn't asked a question, so I figured an answer from me wasn't necessary.

She must have sensed that I wasn't ready to talk about Emily, so she shifted back to Anthony. "Did you know that Lucas was his uncle?" She went back to being gentle.

"No, it never came up."

The conversation seemed to be going absolutely nowhere, and that frustrated me. I felt as though she was dragging out the suspense. I knew punishment was inevitable, and I just wanted to know what it would be.

"I spoke with Administratio earlier. Do you know there are hunters who want to completely strip you of your powers, and banish you from our society? Others want you to be executed, and a few have called for death by torture," she said all of this very calmly.

I shivered at that. Executions among hunters were rare. We didn't have very many traitors, but when they were carried out they were quick. I suppose associating with vampires really was the highest crime.

I tried to fight my curiosity, but it won. "Has anything been decided?"

"Yes, we have decided that in this situation execution is not appropriate." It was scaring me a little, the way she was switching from calm and tender to firm and direct.

"It's not?"

"No, your death will not solve anyone's problems." She paused before continuing. "Caroline said that you told this vampire that you didn't want to see him again."

I wondered if this would give me any leeway as far as punishment went.

"I want you to call him and tell him you changed your mind," my mother ordered.

I stared at her blankly, positive that I'd misheard what she'd said. "You want me to do what?"

"Lucas allowed me to leave because your Anthony talked to him," Mom explained.

My mouth dropped open and my eyes widened, but I worked to regain composure. I didn't know Anthony did that. I also didn't know that it was possible to reason with Lucas. I thought back to when I'd said that my mom was back last night on the phone with Emily. Anthony and his brothers hadn't said anything. Emily was the only one who was surprised. They already knew.

"Based on your reaction, I assume you didn't know about that." She stared at me for a while. "Let me tell you about that day I called you. While I was hunting, I saw the female vampire who appears to be working with Lucas," she began. "Do you know her name?"

I nodded. "That's Juana."

My mom wrote down the name on a piece of paper and continued her story. "I fought her, she is very weak. But before I could stick a knife in her, Lucas came up behind me. He bit my neck and I tried to fight the two of them, but Lucas managed to knock me unconscious. I called you that day because I saw Juana clone herself, and I wondered if there was a connection to Emily."

"Why didn't you tell me what was going on?"

She frowned at my interruption, but still answered my question. "I wanted to find out more information about Lucas and Emily. I underestimated how long I would be there, but I didn't want you or your sisters storming the place. I suspect he let me keep my phone in the beginning because he wanted me to call other hunters to come. Eventually, he realized that wasn't going to happen so he took it from me. While I was there Lucas told me about you and his nephew. I don't know how this Anthony persuaded Lucas to let me leave, but I think Lucas may be under the impression that Anthony is in my good graces because he saved my life. I understand that this is how he managed to get your attention?"

I bit my lip, a little hesitant to give my mom the gory details about my relationship with Anthony. I planned to continue with my resolve to keep my answers short. "Yes," I confirmed. "I was hunting with Ethan, and Anthony saved me from a vampire."

"How noble of him," she commented.

I resisted the urge to sigh. At least she _tried_ to keep the distaste out of her voice. Ava Sinclair was not a fan of vampires, even the ones who saved her daughter's life.

"I told you my story to get to a lesson in the hope that you do not make the same mistake twice," she said. "My lesson for you is this: in the rare event that a vampire saves your life – regardless of his motivation – the appropriate response is to treat him as what he will always be, your enemy."

I felt a chill go down my spine as I stared into my mother's cold eyes. She took another sip of tea.

"Which brings me back to your punishment, which isn't as much a punishment as it is a chance for you to redeem yourself. You will convince Anthony that you are interested in continuing whatever sort of relationship you had with him. You will gain his trust and find out as much as you can about Lucas and his weaknesses so that we can kill him, and then _you_ will be responsible for killing Anthony and his brothers. Do not worry about Juana and Emily, the Administratio will take care of them. At the end of this, if everything goes as planned, we will have six dead vampires."

I sat frozen as the fear crawled through me at the thought of what my mother wanted me to do. I knew I was about to break out in cold sweats any minute.

"Anthony and his brothers don't kill, Mom. Neither does Emily. I wouldn't risk putting myself through this for anyone who was evil. It wasn't Emily's fault that Juana turned her. She didn't do anything wrong." The words spilled out of me, my voice shook in my desperate attempt to not cry.

My mother sat shaking her head. Any arguments from me were futile. "I don't care what you know or think you know about these vampires, Evelyn. _Leeches_ are not good company to keep. Everyone is upset that Emily was turned, but all hunters know that turning into a vampire means death. Look at all the trouble associating with these vampires has gotten you into. Ethan is _dead_."

I flinched at that. It was a low blow. Ethan's death tortured me continuously. I didn't need any reminders.

"I don't think I can do this," I said.

She narrowed her eyes at that, all pretense of calmness gone. "You know, Evelyn, I went with some of the Administratio last night to check out the location where those hunters said Emily would be, but the house was curiously empty. If I find out that you are helping these vampires in any way, I will carry you in for the death sentence myself."

I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. This was always my problem. I was the screw up in the family, the black sheep, the weak one. Any of my other sisters would at least have been able to keep it together in my position. Then again, none of them would have gotten into my position in the first place.

I knew I would get no sympathy from Ava, but just so she was sure I was aware of this fact, she gave me her opinion on my tears.

"I forbid you from being sorry for yourself, Evelyn," she said. "You brought this on yourself." She stood up, but before she left she said, "By the way, the school called this morning because of your attendance record, and you have an unacceptably high number of absences. I expect you to be back in school tomorrow. I would send you today, but I want you to contact Anthony."

There's good parenting for you – make sure you go to school, but remember killing your boyfriend is your highest priority. My mother was barely out of the room when Nicole and Olivia came bounding in.

"Well," Olivia demanded, "What happened?"

Nicole elbowed her in the ribs. "Shut up," she muttered. She took a napkin and handed it to me. "Are you okay, Evy?"

I dabbed the tears, but it was useless. More kept coming. I nodded mechanically in response to her question. "I'll tell you about it later," I said.

I half ran up to my room, locked the door, and curled up into a ball in my bed. I wanted to wallow in self pity. I felt like a failure, and all I could think about was everything that had gone wrong since I'd met Anthony.

I replayed the conversation with my mother over and over again in my head. I forced myself to come to one conclusion: she was right. My relationship with Anthony was the reason for every single problem I had at this moment, and I was determined to fix everything right again.

I got out of bed and fished through my closet for a nice outfit. I found a denim mini skirt I'd bought months ago, the tags still on it, and one of my prettier shirts. It was pink and lacey, not my usual style, but my plan was to dress to impress. I washed my face and carefully applied some makeup.

When I felt satisfied with my appearance I moved to part two of the plan, calling Anthony.

"Hello," he answered.

"Hey," I put some effort into making my tone casual. I would not let him know I'd just spent the last hour sobbing. "Can we meet up at your house? The hunters checked your place last night, but they're gone now. We need to talk, just the two of us."

"Sure," he said, immediately. "When?"

"Now."

"Okay, I can be there in five minutes." He sounded confused, but I was happy that he was willing to going along with me.

"Good, see you in a few minutes." With that, I hung up and headed downstairs.

My sisters were talking to my mother again, this time in the living room. Again, everyone stopped talking when I walked in. "Mom, I need to teleport."

She'd been expecting this because she pointed to a glass on the coffee table with an orange liquid ready for me to drink. I held the glass to my lips and didn't stop drinking until it was empty. It was a thick drink, sweet. I liked it.

"I'm leaving," I announced. "I should be home for dinner."

My mother nodded, while Cheryl and Olivia sat looking confused. Only Nicole appeared worried.

I didn't wait to hear the questions my sisters would have. I teleported to the foyer in Anthony's house. There, I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before walking into the living room.

There he was, in all his perfection. His beautiful, blue eyes lit up when he saw me, the way they always did.

"Evelyn, what's all this about? How are you? You look great." He took a step back to look at me, admiration in his eyes.

He was about to speak again, but I put a finger over his lips. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down for a kiss.

I hadn't kissed him like this in long time. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my body close to his to feel as much of him as possible. His lips were soft, just the way I remembered them, and his taste was delicious. He'd wrapped one arm around my waist, while his other hand caressed the side of my face. I let him break away first, and then I placed soft kisses along his jaw.

When I looked back into his eyes, they were happy and hopeful. He thought that I'd forgiven him for not telling me that Lucas was his uncle, that I'd managed to get out of trouble with the Administratio, and that I was willing to move forward together with him. At that moment, he was gently stroking my hair, probably thinking that this was my passionate way of showing that I still wanted to be with him.

That was a good thing. I wanted him to think that. After all, I couldn't let him know I was planning to kill him.

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_Don't hate me._


	30. Chapter 30

_Surprise! I can't remember the last time I updated the week after a previous chapter. I figured that considering the events that happened in the previous chapter, many of you are not very happy with me, so I'm trying to stay on your good sides. :) I'm not sure I'm completely happy with this chapter, but I guess it'll do. Thank you so very much for your reviews. I always appreciate your comments. In regards to last chapter, all I ask is that you please trust me. I know what I'm doing...sort of. :)_

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Anthony took my hand and led me to the couch. "Listen, about Ethan, I –"

I cut him off. Ethan was the last person I wanted to talk about right now. "It's okay," I said. "I get that it wasn't your fault. I'm dealing with it. I just don't want to talk about it."

He kissed my cheek. "Sure. So how are you? I was so worried. I'm thrilled that you're here, but I thought you'd be in more trouble."

I looked at him carefully, wondering when he was planning to tell me about saving my mother's life. It didn't seem like he intended to any time soon. He was content to let it go unnoticed. He was going to be selfless. Unlike me who was planning to kill him because I was only thinking about myself. But that was the way I'd been raised.

"Why didn't you tell me that you talked to Lucas to save my mother?" I asked.

"I haven't exactly gotten a chance to talk to you in a while," he replied. "I wasn't sure he would do it, but I wanted to try."

"How did you get him to listen? I never realized that he was someone you could reason with." I asked him this out of burning curiosity.

"Honestly," he said, "I really don't know why he listened to me. After he turned my brothers and me, he was really disappointed that we weren't interested in killing, but I think he's held on to a soft spot for us. And…" he paused, seeming unsure of whether or not to continue.

"And what?" I asked.

"And I think he's kind of enjoying our situation. He wants to see how our relationship will play out. Part of the reason he let your mother go was to try and drag it all out."

I bristled at that. My life wasn't a game. "The Administratio wants him dead." I figured being direct was the best course of action here.

Anthony nodded slowly. "I thought that would be the case. I understand, he's evil, and he's been more than a nuisance to my brothers and me over the years."

I was pleased with his reaction. I wasn't sure what he would do when I told him that Lucas had to die. A nagging voice in my head had me worried that Anthony would have some vestiges of warmth left toward his uncle, but I was happy to know it was just my own pessimism.

"I'll call my brothers and Emily. They'll want an update from you on everything that's going on, and Emily will be happy to see you," he said.

"Sure, great," I plastered a smile on my face as I went over the lies I planned to tell in my head.

I was most worried about Emily. I was still determined to save her, but I realized that there were definite flaws in my plans. If, no _when_, I went through with killing Anthony and his brothers, Emily wouldn't have anyone left. The hunters would continue to follow her. I couldn't think of a place in the world for her to go that wouldn't have some sort of hunter ready and waiting, short of Antarctica.

Not only that, but she would be the hardest to lie to. She knew all about the hunters and the way they worked. She wouldn't just accept that they would let me off the hook after finding out that I was dating a vampire.

Anthony had just gotten off the phone with Eric. "They're on their way," he said. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Sure," I said, following him into the kitchen.

I watched him carefully as he opened the refrigerator to pull out a bottle of sprite. After spending so much time with him, I'd gotten used to turning off my hunting senses while I was around him. The thing was, I realized now that I hadn't been consciously doing it. Being around him so much automatically shut off the hyperawareness I usually had around vampires.

Now that I focused again, the tension I normally felt was back. Instead of feeling relaxed around him, I scrutinized his every moment. It was time for me to get back to who I was – a hunter.

Anthony handed me the glass of soda, and pulled out a box of chocolate chip cookies – my favorite. He sat down next to me and proceeded to feed me a cookie with a big smile on his face. I took a small bite and tried not to look him in the eye. His affection felt wrong while I secretly harbored thoughts about killing him.

The awkwardness didn't last very long because Eric, Mark, and Emily walked into the kitchen. Emily ran over to hug me.

"Evelyn, you're okay!" I had to smile at the huge ear to ear grin on her face.

"Hey Evelyn," Mark said.

"What have you been up to, little huntress?" Eric asked. He casually put his arm around Emily. I wondered how fast their relationship was moving.

"Yeah, what happened at your hearing?" Emily wondered. "I can't believe the hunters would just let you off the hook."

I was careful about the way I answered her question. Emily would be able to pick out the flaws in my lies.

"They were discussing punishment during my hearing. Caroline wanted execution and was basically stating her case, but then my mom came and all the drama with that made them postpone whatever it is that will happen," I explained.

"Are they still thinking about having you killed?" Anthony asked with a frown.

"I don't think so," I said, cautiously.

I looked around at all of them, keeping in mind that they were the enemy now, and that I needed to focus. I had to keep track of where they were at all times. Anthony was still next to me, relaxed with an arm around my shoulder. Emily was directly across from me, holding Eric's hand, and Mark was next Eric. I noticed that of the group Mark was watching me the most intently, almost as if he was scrutinizing my movements the way I was doing to everyone else.

It did occur to me that Mark would be the most difficult one when it came to carrying out the task my mother had set for me. I remembered when Caroline had tried to attack Anthony, he hadn't moved. If I attempted to kill him, I didn't think he would fight me.

Emily was unpredictable with her moods. Some days she seemed strong and ready to fight to survive. Other days she felt a loyalty to the hunters. If they tried to kill her, she may very well let them, and it was possible Eric would go down with her.

But that would leave Mark. And with him I was certain it would be one-on-one combat.

"Have you talked to your mom?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, the hunters want all of you dead," I said, trying to be as honest as possible. "Right now their main priority is Lucas."

"Did she say anything about us specifically?" Emily asked.

"She doesn't want me to have anything to do with you guys," I lied. "I really don't know how we're going to move past all this, but I'm hoping things will calm down once Lucas is dead. I think you guys should split up."

Dividing them would make my job much easier. They were powerful vampires, I was confident that I would have a chance fighting one at a time, but all of them together would be impossible.

"Why?" Mark asked, his eyebrows pulled together in a frown. "That would make us weaker if they found us."

"But I'm hoping they don't find you," I said quickly. "Right now they're looking for four vampires living together."

"It's not a bad idea," Anthony said. "Mark and I can stay here, and Emily and Eric can go back to our beach house."

"Actually, we probably shouldn't stay here. I don't like that the hunters know about this place. We should stay in a hotel," Mark suggested.

Anthony nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I looked at the caller ID to see that Nicole was calling me. I was pretty sure that whatever it was that she wanted to talk about involved things I didn't want the vampires in the room to hear.

"That's Nicole," I said. "I should probably get going. I don't want to be gone long. The hunters might get suspicious." I gave Anthony a peck on the cheek. "I'll call you later," I told him.

I teleported back into my room and fell back on my bed. I hadn't felt so antsy around Anthony since the first time I'd seen him school. It seemed so long ago. My phone stopped vibrating for a few seconds but then started again. I had to admire Nicole's persistence.

I went downstairs where I saw Olivia pacing in the living room, and Nicole with her cell phone to her ear, a frustrated look on her face.

"Where's Mom and Cheryl?" I asked.

It was almost comical the way both of their heads snapped up at the same time to gape at me.

"Mom went to see the Administratio and Cheryl went to work. Where have you been?" Nicole asked. "I've been trying to call you."

"What did Mom say to you this morning?" Olivia asked.

The anxious curiosity on their faces surprised me. It appeared that my mother hadn't told the _anything._ It made me wonder if I was allowed to tell anyone what she'd said.

"You didn't ask Mom about it?" I wondered.

Olivia threw me a condescending look. "Of course we did. She said it was up to you whether or not you wanted to talk about it, or ask for help. Help with what?"

"She said it was up to me if I wanted to tell?" I asked, just to make sure.

"Are you deaf?" Olivia asked, annoyed. "I just said that." Patience had never been one of her strong points.

"Well good, I don't want to tell you," I said, glaring at her. "It's none of your business."

"Are you going to tell me?" Nicole asked. She stared me down to remind me that even if I thought it was none of her business, she would make it her business to know.

"I'm not going to talk about this right now," I said, frustrated. "I feel like this has been the longest day of my life and it's only – I glanced at the clock in the living room – eleven o'clock in the morning."

I went back up to my room, hoping they would leave me alone. I wasn't sure I could do this. My brain wouldn't stop imagining all the different scenarios of what would happen. Anthony dead, his brothers furious, I could get killed, and then it would all leave Emily alone, provided she survived whatever the Administratio had planned for her.

My phone buzzed again and I nearly threw it at the wall, thinking it might be Nicole again. Instead, I saw that I had a text from Anthony. It read: **You seemed tense today. Call me if you need to talk.**

And then I did throw my phone at the wall. I couldn't do this. I couldn't fake it and just kill him. My plan wasn't even completely thought out. What about Emily? She couldn't hide alone for the rest of eternity.

I collapsed onto my bed crying. Really, if I seriously thought about it, I was the one who'd brought myself here. If I had just ignored Anthony that first time he asked me to go to his house, if I hadn't gone to Ethan's grave for Caroline to find me there with Anthony, if only I'd told Emily not to come to hunt, my situation would be very, very different.

I heard a knock at the door. Nicole walked in, interrupting my self-pity party. She came with a box of tissues, which she handed to me silently.

"So what did Mom say to you this morning?" she asked, after I'd stopped sniffling.

I recounted the details of what Mom asked me to do. I told her about how the Administratio was planning to kill Emily. I even told her about how I'd gone to see Anthony at his house earlier, and how I'd thought that I could go through with pretending to be his girlfriend, but I realized now that I couldn't.

I started crying again, tears leaking down my face. I saw my reflection in the mirror across the room. Eyeliner and mascara stained my face, and my eyes were red and puffy. I shifted, uncomfortable in the tight, lacey shirt that I'd worn to impress Anthony so that he would think that I could go back to the way things used to be.

"Well, you've definitely made a mess of things," Nicole said.

"Thanks, that makes me feel so much better," I said with a glare. I knew I had no right to be upset with her. If anybody was even close to being on my side, it was Nicole.

"I wasn't trying to make you feel better," she said. "I really don't know what to do. I don't think that we're going to be able to hide Emily on our own forever. She'd need Anthony and his brothers. They provide protection that we can't give."

"So, you want me to _not_ kill them?" I asked, surprised. Nicole had made it clear from day one that nothing what make her happier than getting Anthony and his brothers out of the picture.

"I don't see how Emily can survive without them. As a young vampire, she's weak. She has no money or a home. And it's not like we can help her adjust to being a vampire, and having a vampire's powers," Nicole mused.

"Okay, but Mom said I have to kill him, or I'll _die_," I said.

"Were you really going to go through with it?" she asked, a condescending look on her face. "One little meeting with him and you've already fallen apart. What'll happen when the time comes to stick a knife in him?"

"I don't know," I mumbled, defeated. This looked like it was going to come down to who I wanted to live more, Emily or myself. I couldn't help but think about how afraid I was of death, while my conscious screamed the word _selfish_ at me.

"Mom said she wanted you to find out stuff that could help them kill Anthony, right?" She looked at me for confirmation.

"Yeah, I don't know what there is to find out, though. Anthony doesn't keep in touch with Lucas."

"Well, talk to him about Lucas. Ask him to tell you everything he knows about his uncle. While you find out about Lucas, it'll buy us some time to figure out what to do," she said, as she got up to leave.

"Okay," I murmured, weakly. Despite my uneasiness, I was beyond happy that someone was helping me.

"And Evelyn?" Nicole said, at the door. "If we can't find a way to fix this, Mom's right, Emily knows that the sentence for being turned into a vampire is death. I really hope we find something, but if we can't I'll kill Anthony, Eric, Mark, and even Emily myself. I'm not going to let you die in place of a vampire, even one who was a former hunter.


	31. Chapter 31

_Hello everyone. It took a little bit longer than I anticipated to get this chapter written, but it's one of my longer ones. Thank you so, so much for your reviews. I appreciate them more than you know. I'm really busy right now getting ready for college and whatnot, but don't worry, I'll find time to write. We're nearing the end of We're Damned After All, and I have the last few chapters mapped out, so it won't be long before it's over. Anyways, enjoy chapter 31. Reviews make me smile :)_

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"…The heart of Brutus earns to think upon," Ms. Carlly shut her book and looked up at the half asleep class. Most of the students had their heads down. Others were texting. I didn't blame them, Shakespeare's _Julius Caesar_ wasn't what I would call fascinating.

I noticed the teacher's face drop a little at the lack of enthusiasm in the room. "I expect you all to finish reading Act II over the weekend. We'll start on Act III next week."

The bell rang and every rushed out of the room. Anthony took my hand and we walked together to my next class. These past few days had been…awkward. Every time Anthony touched me or I talked to him, I felt an uneasiness in the pit of my stomach.

Anthony either didn't notice or he thought I was still coping with everything that had happened with Ethan and my mother.

Outside the door to my next class Anthony gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "Do you want to have dinner tonight?" he asked.

I knew I should say yes. My mother kept insisting that I spend every free, waking moment I had with him. The day before she'd practically thrown me out of the house when she saw me watching TV, saying that I should be fishing for information.

I don't exactly know what it was she and the Administratio were hoping I'd find out. Surely they couldn't expect Anthony to have a secret "how to" book on killing Lucas. I knew that Anthony and his brothers tried their best to stay away from Lucas over the centuries, so any information I found out from them was likely to be outdated anyway.

"Sorry," I heard myself saying. "I think my family's getting suspicious of me being away so much."

I was surprised that Anthony hadn't figured me out by now. I'd thought for sure he'd notice that I was spending more of my days with him now than I'd done back when things were perfect between us.

Still, it was a good thing I had him fooled because Mark was not as easily tricked. Whenever I came to visit Anthony in the hotel they were staying in, Mark was overly cautious around me. I'd caught him staring me down a few times, and every time I lied around him I was sure that he would call me out. I'd considered asking Anthony if Mark had a problem with me, but I didn't want to make Anthony suspicious too.

I sat through the rest of my classes trying very hard to pay attention, but it was a little hard to follow. All the school I'd missed left me clueless as far as some of the lessons went, but my teachers had been supportive and a few of them excused me from some of the assignments. They knew that Ethan and I had been best friends.

After the bell rang, signaling the end of class there was a definite lift in the atmosphere as there always is on a Friday afternoon. I walked out to find Anthony waiting for me.

I smiled when I saw him. Even with all of the troubles I had with him, sometimes, during very brief moments I remembered exactly why I broke all the rules for him. But was it worth it? It bothered me that I could never answer that question.

"How are you getting home?" he asked

"Nicole's giving me a ride," I said.

"I'll walk you to the parking lot," he said, putting an arm around me shoulder. "What are you doing over the weekend?"

I made a face. "I've missed a lot of school. I have stacks of work from all of my teachers."

He smiled. "Do you need some help? I have centuries of expertise in all of those subject areas."

I rolled my eyes at this. "Showing off is rude. You'd think after all those centuries you'd have picked up some manners. And could you not bring up our massive age difference? It's a little creepy when you think about it."

"I have to say, I am a little ticked that you consider my age to be the creepiest thing about me. I must work on my scary vampire image."

I nodded. "It wouldn't hurt if you took a few tips from Dracula."

He laughed and bent down to kiss me – a real kiss – one that my made my heart start hammering in my chest. I pulled away first, and he smirked at me.

"Come over this weekend, okay? Bring your workload with you if you have to, I'll help."

"Sure," I said, still a little breathless from the kiss.

With that I walked to where Nicole was parked. I hoped I hadn't kept her waiting very long. As I passed through the parking lot, I saw Michelle give me a dirty look. I remembered how she'd flirted with Anthony when he first got here. That all felt very long ago now. I ignored her and made my way into the passenger seat of Nicole's car.

"I've been waiting forever," she said.

"Sorry," I said. "I had to talk to Anthony."

"Yeah, I'm sure you got a lot of conversation in while his lips were locked with yours."

I blushed. "You saw that?"

She rolled her eyes. "The whole school saw that."

"I'm just doing what your mother told me to do." I said, instantly irritated.

That had become the norm for me these past few days. My moods were all over the place. It was all becoming too much, the fake cheeriness for Anthony, the resentment towards my mother, the pain of losing Ethan, and then there was my own anger towards myself for causing this whole mess.

Nicole appeared to pick up on the way I felt because she didn't say anything the entire ride home.

I headed into the kitchen for a snack when I got home. My mother was there on the phone at the dining room table. "What do you mean you can't find her? She can't just disappear," she was saying.

The conversation sounded vaguely interesting and I purposely pretended to search aimlessly through the kitchen in an attempt to eavesdrop.

"Juana isn't very powerful at all. She wouldn't just leave Lucas. She needs him for protection." My mother frowned as she listened to whoever she was talking to. "Okay, yes she might know something. I'll ask her. Bye."

I pulled out a bag of Doritos and dumped some into a bowl. I had a feeling I knew who the "she" my mom was coming to ask was, and as much as I enjoyed her interrogations, today I just wasn't in the mood.

"Evelyn, have you heard anything about Juana?" my mother asked before I could sprint out of the kitchen.

"No, why?"

"We've been keeping tabs on Lucas and Juana. We can't watch them too closely or they'll know, but we just want to make sure we know where they are so that there isn't a flaw in our plans when we go after them," she explained. "The problem is that we know where Lucas is, but we can't find Juana."

"I haven't talked to Anthony about her. I could ask, I guess. But Anthony and his brothers don't really like her, I doubt they'll know anything," I said.

Ava barely appeared to be listening to me. She was on her blackberry, furiously punching at the keys. "Ask him anyway. Are you seeing him today?"

"No, I have a lot of schoolwork to make up."

She looked up from her phone to purse her lips at me. I was sure she was contemplating ordering me to go over to Anthony's house immediately. "Fine," she said after a moment. "Make sure you finish all of it tonight. Go see Anthony tomorrow."

I didn't say anything as I headed up to my room. The pile of homework had never before seemed so appealing. I needed something that would distract me.

I didn't finish until after midnight. I'd been so focused on doing everything that I hadn't even bothered to stop for dinner. I went downstairs to make some macaroni and cheese and it occurred to me that I was the only one in the house. Everyone else was probably off hunting.

That was good. I was sick of them all staring at me like I was pariah. I put the water to boil and couldn't help but think about Juana. How could she go missing? Where would she go? She'd made herself a target among the hunters by working with Lucas, and she was weak. She had to depend on Lucas for protection.

As I ate, I thought about where she could be or what she could be doing. She was resourceful, I was sure of that. That was how she'd managed to survive for so many centuries. After all, she was older than Anthony.

I went to sleep, making up my mind to question Anthony about her first thing tomorrow.

The next morning I teleported to the hotel where Anthony and Mark were staying, the hunters were still monitoring his house. They'd followed my plan to split up.

I made my way up to Anthony's room. Since I'd been seeing Anthony again on my mother's orders, I made a habit to increase my awareness around the vampires. It had scared me a little when I saw that I could become desensitized around them. It would only make me weaker if I wasn't acutely aware of them.

Down the hall from Anthony's room, my sensitive hearing picked up on Mark and Anthony's voices.

"Don't you think Evelyn's been different since she's been back?" Mark asked.

"Of course she's been different. Her best friend died, and she's in all kinds of trouble with the other hunters because of what she's done." Anthony's defense of me tugged at my heart. If he wasn't blinded by whatever feelings he had for me, he'd have seen the logic in what Mark was saying.

"It's not just that," Mark argued. "Something's off. Look, if she's back on their side that means she's dangerous. She'll want to kill us."

"Then why hasn't she done it yet?" Anthony asked. "You're the only one who seems to think there's anything wrong with Evelyn."

"I know, because I'm the only one who isn't caught up with some girl," Mark retorted.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" I heard Eric's voice for the first time.

"It means you're both missing what's right in front of you. The next time Evelyn comes here pay attention to the way she moves, the way she looks around. She acts like she's ready to hunt," Mark said.

"That's not surprising considering the fact that she's a _hunter_." Anthony sounded angry now. His voice raised and I could imagine his eyes narrowing.

"Listen, I don't think there's anything wrong with Evelyn, but for Mark's peace of mind, let's hold off on telling Evelyn that Juana's dead," Eric said.

Juana was dead? How could that have happened? The hunters didn't kill her. The only way she could've died would be if Lucas killed her. Other vampires wouldn't be able to get to her if she was under Lucas's protection. But why would he kill her? She was useful to him. She was the only vampire in the world to have a hunter's power.

"Why don't you want to tell Evelyn?" Anthony asked. I was grateful to him for asking too. Why didn't they want me to know?

"Because if you tell her she's going to want to know how you found out. And if she is on the hunters' side then it isn't going to endear her to you if she finds out that you've been talking to our dear old uncle – the vampire who killed her father," Mark explained condescendingly.

I couldn't help the outrage that built up in me. Anthony was talking to Lucas. My boyfriend was talking to the vampire who'd murdered my father. Clearly I wasn't the only one who had secrets. This made me feel slightly better about all the ways I'd been deceiving him.

On the other hand, I knew I was being unfair. Even if Anthony was keeping secrets from me, I was pretty sure he didn't intend on killing me any time soon. There had to be some sort of explanation for him talking to Lucas.

"Okay, so no telling Evelyn about Lucas or Juana, for now at least," Eric said. "I'm going back to the beach house with Emily."

When I heard him say this, I ran for the staircase and bolted out of the hotel, ignoring the people who stared. I waited in the Starbucks down the street, sipping a cappuccino while I let the time pass by. After a full thirty minutes passed by, I headed back in the direction of the hotel. I didn't want Anthony or Mark to think there'd been any chance that I'd heard their conversation.

I knocked on the door of Anthony's room and he smiled when he saw me, ushering me in and pulling me toward him for a quick kiss on the cheek. Mark was still in Anthony's room. His face was completely blank, but he nodded politely in acknowledgement of my presence.

"I finished all of the work I had to make up for school last night," I said proudly.

Anthony smiled. "That's great. I guess that means I get to have you to myself all weekend."

I giggled in what I hoped was a flirtatious way. I was still uneasy from listening to their conversation earlier.

I glanced from Anthony to Mark and back again. I noticed they were both watching me carefully. It occurred to me that Anthony was taking Mark up on his advice to pay attention to the way I acted around them to see if it looked like I was hunting. I forced myself to appear more relaxed. I tried to shut off the hyperawareness that I felt around vampires and was surprised that I could actually do it at will.

I wrapped my arms around Anthony's waist and I noticed that they both appeared calmer as well. I assumed that I just couldn't pick up on their scrutiny as much since my hunting senses weren't in full force.

"Let's go out for breakfast," I told Anthony, wanting to get him alone.

"Sure," he said, grabbing his keys from the nightstand. He exchanged a look with Mark before he took my hand and led me out of the room.

Once in Anthony's car, I wanted to question him, but he caught me off guard. "Emily said she saw her mother yesterday," he told me.

"Karen? Really? Where?" This was a surprise.

"Eric took Emily shopping. She saw her mother in a parking lot. They left immediately. I don't know if her mother saw them."

Emily's mother intimidated me. She was stricter than my own mother. But she was the only family Emily had left now that Jack had died. I wondered what things would be like if Emily and Jack hadn't come to visit…

I was certain that once Karen found out that Emily was a vampire, she'd want her dead. It wouldn't surprise me if she already knew, and she came to see to it herself that Emily died. I hadn't seen or heard from Emily's mother at all since Emily had fallen off the hunters' radar.

"I'll ask my sisters if they know why she's here, and let you know. How's Emily doing?" I asked.

"Eric said she hasn't been talking much since she saw here mother. I think it must have shaken her up."

I nodded. "After we have breakfast I'll go back to my house and see if I can find out anything. Then we can go see Emily."

Karen hadn't seemed to take any interest in Emily's disappearance prior to this, why _now_? My whole life just seemed like one dramatic event after another. I needed a break or I would go crazy.

Anthony led me into an IHOP – the same one he'd taken me to so long ago – back when I was still wary of him, like I should have been. We were seated and I remembered what I'd wanted to talk about before he'd distracted me with news of Emily's mother.

"Have you heard from Juana recently?" I asked.

He looked at me briefly - his eyes studying me carefully - before returning his attention to the menu. "No, I haven't."

He said it so smoothly, so easily, that it made me angry. Why should be able to lie to me so effortlessly? Did it eat him up inside, the way it did to me when I lied? Rationally, I knew I didn't have much right to feel angry with him for lying. He was just being careful. I was, after all, planning to kill him. And lately every other word out of my mouth had been a lie. But still, did he lie to me about other things? He gave away absolutely no indication that he was being dishonest.

"Nothing at all?" I pressed. "You haven't seen her? Heard about her even?"

He set aside the menu and this time he looked me directly in the eye. "No, nothing. Why do you ask?"

I took a breath, ignoring the urge to call him out on the lie. I knew that would be stupid. "The hunters have been trying to keep track of Juana and Lucas. I heard my mother on the phone yesterday. She said that they didn't know where Juana was."

He took a sip of coffee before responding. "I haven't heard anything, but I'll talk to my brothers. I'll try to look into it. Do you know when the hunters are planning to kill Lucas?"

An unwanted part of my subconscious made me pause before I answered. Why did Anthony want to know that? Maybe he was helping his uncle so that we couldn't kill him. That made no sense. Anthony had never shown any kind of lingering affection toward his uncle. Then again, maybe he'd been lying when he said he was okay with Lucas dying. He'd proven today that he had no problem in the lying department.

"No, I have no idea what the Administratio is doing. I imagine this Juana problem is throwing them off a little," I said, watching his reaction carefully.

He just nodded and continued drinking his coffee. The waitress came for our order. She was batting her eyelashes ridiculously at Anthony, but he barely glanced at her. We both ordered a stack of pancakes, and when she left we just sat there staring at each other, the tension thick between the two of us. I think we both knew that something was wrong here, but neither of us wanted to bring it up.

We ate our meals in silence. We each tried to start talking about things that didn't revolve around Emily, or hunting, or vampires, but those conversations fell flat. Maybe we weren't as perfect for each other as I'd previously thought.

When we were finished he paid the bill and asked me if I wanted a ride anywhere. I turned him down, saying I would teleport to my house and try to find out more about Emily's mother.

He gave me an awkward hug before he got into his car and drove off. I teleported back home, wanting nothing more than to erase the dejected feeling I had.

Nicole was in the living room watching TV. She opened her mouth to say something to me, but I walked past her before she could get it out. My mom was in the kitchen chopping up vegetables when I walked in.

"Juana's dead," I told her.

She looked at me in surprise before a few seconds before she returned to her chopping. "Did the vampire tell you that? He could've been lying."

"No, I overheard him and his brothers talking. They said she was dead. When I asked him about Juana, he said he hadn't heard anything about her." I wondered if she could hear the misery in my voice.

It appeared she could because she looked at me again, this time with pity in her eyes. It was rare that my mother felt sorry for me. I didn't want to wait around for her _I told you so_, but she made sure I heard it before I could leave.

"Evelyn, do you see now why we don't form relationships with vampires? They're evil and completely untrustworthy."

I looked her straight in the eye. "I've been lying to him too. Maybe I'm the evil one."

"Evelyn —"

"Just drop it, Mom. I don't really think that," I said just so I could get away from her. This was going to be a bad day. I could already tell.

Nicole saw me stomping up the stairs, and I realized that she was right behind me. I didn't say anything but I let her follow me up to my room. I locked the door, and when she sat on my bed I told her everything that had happened when I went to see Anthony without any prompting on her part.

She was quiet after I finished telling her everything. She just sat there thinking, not even looking at me.

"Well?" I asked. "All that, and you don't have anything to say?"

"Before you told me all this I was thinking about telling you to tell Anthony everything," she said.

"What? You wanted me to tell him I had to kill him?"

"Yeah," she said. "If he and his brothers could disappear with Emily, then we'd know she'd be okay."

I thought about that. I found I didn't like the idea of Anthony disappearing without me ever seeing him again even after everything I'd found out about him today. But Nicole was right, it would keep Emily safe.

"Do you think that would work, though? The Administratio wants me to kill Anthony and his brothers. They'd think I was helping Anthony if I told them I couldn't find him."

"I know," she replied. "That's why we'd have set something up to make it seem like you didn't know, and we'd have to make sure they go somewhere where the Adminsitratio couldn't find them. If they were out of the picture the Administratio might come up with another punishment for you, and if they don't it would at least give us time to figure out what to do from there."

"Or we could fake their deaths," I suggested.

"I thought about that too. That would be tricky though. The Administratio might want proof you actually killed Anthony and his brothers. If they ever found out you lied about it, you'd get the death sentence for sure. But it's all irrelevant now. I don't know what to do about them anymore. You need to find out why Anthony's been talking to Lucas."

"I know, I just don't know how to do it." This was so frustrating. Every day I woke up, my life got more complicated. "What about Emily's mom?"

"I talked to her after Jack died. She thanked me for trying to heal him. I know Mom said Karen tried looking for Emily too, but she wants her dead now that she knows Emily's a vampire." Nicole looked at me sadly. "I heard Mom saying she came to make sure it was done. I think if she sees Emily, she'll do it herself."

"I think we should go see Emily," I said. "We can figure out this mess with Anthony later."

"Okay," she agreed. "That's probably a good idea. I can't imagine how Emily must be feeling now after she saw Karen."

"Follow me," I said. "Eric and Emily are staying at the Carson's beach house."

We teleported to the beach house, and Nicole gasped before standing in front of me protectively. There, lounging on a chair, sipping what could only be blood from a wine glass, was Lucas.


	32. Chapter 32

_Hi everyone! You're all probably sick of my apologies about updating, but again I'm sorry for the wait. College is keeping me much busier than I'd thought it would. Thank you so much for sticking with me even though I take a horrendous amount of time to update this story. As always, I appreciate your reviews and I'm so glad that you guys enjoy this story. There's only about three or four more chapters left and maybe an epilogue, so we're nearing the end, people. Anyways, here's chapter 32. I hope you like it! :)_

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Lucas set his glass of blood down on the table next to him carefully, never taking his eyes off of us. He then stood and gestured toward the couch opposite from him.

"Please have a seat, ladies. You're just the girls I wanted to see. I'm going to assume your mother doesn't know you're here, but don't worry I won't tell." His lips curled up into a sinister smile.

A sudden fury came over me. This was the vampire who murdered my best friend and my father, and he was standing there acting like we were all old friends who he was happy to have over. Why was he _here_?

Worry settled in as I considered the thousands of possibilities. Were Emily and Eric okay? Did they know he was here? Was he invited here? Did I make some grave error in judgment about Eric? Were the Carsons all really my enemies? That would mean Anthony was my enemy, and to think I'd felt guilty about lying to him all this time…

While I was busy having my mental breakdown, Nicole stood strong in front of me poised to fight. She regarded the situation impassively, a skill that I admired. I needed to work on putting on a brave face because right now I was certain that both Nicole and Lucas could feel the waves of tension I was emanating.

"What are you doing here?" Nicole asked coldly.

"I could ask you the same question," Lucas retorted with the same faux politeness. "This is, after all, my nephews' home."

Hearing his voice made the anger seep through again. I wanted to kill him. He was the sole reason for everything that was currently wrong in my life.

"Where are Eric and Emily?" I asked, stepping away from Nicole so that I could see him better. I'd hoped he would be able to feel the heat of my anger through my glare, but he continued to stare at us with that same ridiculous expression on his face.

"That's a very good question," he said. "I was actually hoping you ladies would be able to tell me that. I came, and no one was home. So I decided to wait and sip on this glass of animal blood that my nephews are so fond of. I honestly can't understand why. It's so very bland, nothing like fresh human blood or rather hunter blood, now that is a delicacy."

Nicole pulled out a blade. I noticed her knuckles were white as she squeezed onto the hilt of it.

Lucas held his hands up as if to signify he was harmless. "Now, now that wasn't a threat. There's no need for anyone to get violent. Like I said, I wanted to talk to you ladies, specifically you, Evelyn."

I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself. It didn't work.

"Why?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"Because of all the Sinclair sisters you're the most interesting, of course." He said this as if it were common knowledge. "I'm very curious about the huntress who stole my nephew's heart."

Suddenly, Nicole grabbed my arm and I felt the familiar pull as she began to teleport with me, but it didn't work. Instead of teleporting to a safe place a good distance away from Lucas, I felt some invisible force push me back into the spot I was standing in while Nicole went flying straight into the nearest wall. There was a thud, and then she fell on the ground, knocked out.

"Nicky!" I screamed her name as I started to run to her, but a strong hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me back.

"I told you I wanted to talk to you," Lucas said, his voice still calm. "It would be rude of you to just leave in the middle of our conversation. Your father should have spent less time hunting and more time teaching you girls some manners. Then he might still be alive."

It was like nothing had happened. He continued to act as if he was pleased to see us. However, at the mention of my father, I forgot that he was one of the most powerful vampires in the world and that Nicole was lying unconscious across the room. My hand moved – of its own accord – faster than it had ever moved before, and the next thing I knew it made a forceful impact with Lucas' face.

He let go of me, in shock at my boldness while I pretended as though my hand wasn't in any kind of pain. In truth, it throbbed. His face was _hard_.

I saw his fist coming toward me and dodged it just in time. I snatched Nicole's knife, which had fallen to the floor and held it out in front of me defensively. I was determined to keep some space between Lucas and me.

"Evelyn, I'm impressed. No offense, but if I'd had to say between you and Nicole who I thought would be unconscious and who would be ready to attack, I would have said the reverse of what it is now." He said all of this nonchalantly, but I noticed the strain to keep up the façade in his voice. I preferred him annoyed, his fake friendliness got on my nerves.

"You wanted to talk to me, so talk," I said.

"Fine, I'd thought we could have a civilized conversation, but if you'd rather do it this way…."

He moved too fast for me to see and tried to knock the knife out of my hand. Only because of sheer luck I stumbled back and he missed. He grabbed hold of my wrist, and I managed to slice his left cheek with the knife. He hissed in pain as the poison from the blade seeped into him, but still slapped my hand away causing the knife to skid across the floor, far from my reach. He grabbed hold of my other wrist and pulled me closer to him, fangs bared.

I stared back at him defiantly, determined to not let him see my fear. "What now?" I asked.

His lip pulled up into something that resembled a grin. "I'm not going to kill you because your relationship with my nephew is too amusing to destroy so soon, but I should warn you, it's only a matter of time before Anthony figures out that you're just playing with him."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The words tumbled out of my mouth automatically. There was no way Lucas could know about how my mother ordered me to uncover secrets about Lucas from Anthony and then kill him and his brothers.

Lucas barked out a short laugh. "Of course you don't. You might have Anthony wrapped around your pretty little finger, but I'm not so naïve. I know there's no way Ava Sinclair would allow any kind of chance for you to legitimately date a vampire, especially once she found out you'd been doing it behind her back. That can only mean that you're planning something."

"You don't know anything about my mother," I said, trying to skirt around the topic. Maybe he did know all about what my mother had ordered me to do, and that was why he was here – to tell Eric about my plans.

"Evelyn, I can see the anxiety in your eyes. You shouldn't be so worried though. I have no intention of telling any of my nephews about what I assume is your great scheme to kill them. I'd much rather watch you mess it up yourself."

I can't deny that it bothered me that even this vampire – who I'd only had face to face contact with a few times – thought of me as a screw up.

"I still don't understand why you wanted to talk to me."

"Oh yes," he smiled the same sinister smile he'd worn when Nicole and I first arrived. "You distracted me. I wanted to offer you a solution to all your little problems."

I stared at him blankly for a moment. "Yes, I'm sure you want nothing more than to help me out of the kindness of your undead heart."

"Come now, Evelyn, you know me better than that. I'm only willing to help you because I'm anticipating something in return."

Despite the way I was currently glaring at him, I couldn't help the raging curiosity I felt. I don't really know what I expected him to say, but it certainly wasn't what came out of his mouth next.

"Let me change you into a vampire," he said simply.

It took a few seconds for me to process what he'd said. I don't know what came over me, but when his words finally registered in my head, I couldn't stop myself from laughing hysterically. I threw my head back, overcome with the uncontrollable laughter.

Looking back, I realized how incredibly dangerous it was to be laughing in the face of a powerful vampire who had me by the wrists.

"Something funny?" Lucas asked when I was done.

"Yes, I find the idea of me as a vampire _hilarious_," I answered.

"You really shouldn't be so quick to write off my idea, Evelyn," he said patiently, as though he was trying to explain some life lesson to a young child. "It truly would solve all of your problems. Right now you and Anthony have managed to get yourselves into quite the cliché, forbidden lovers' predicament. You are of two different worlds. If you were a vampire, you could be with him and protect your dear friend Emily."

"There's a flaw in your little plan," I teased. "If I were to become a vampire the hunters would come after me."

"Which is why we would fake your death," he responded.

I frowned at him. "You really seem to have this all planned out. What do you plan on getting out of this?"

It was only after I asked the question, that the answer came to me. It was so obvious what he wanted, and I knew I could never let him get it.

"A rare power of invisibility should belong to someone who isn't quite as clumsy as you don't you think?" he said with a grin.

"Even in some alternate universe where I would actually _want_ to become a vampire, I wouldn't let _you_ be the one to change me," I said.

"But you need me on your side for the plan to work," he implored. "You'd need to me to say I killed you, or your family of hunters would come after you until they were sure you were dead. Also, in return for you lovely power of invisibility, I'll promise you immunity from me as long as you leave me alone."

"I don't plan on forming any kind of alliance with you," I sneered. "Juana did and look what happened to her."

"Ah yes, well Juana was more useful to me dead than alive. She's not who's important here, though, you are. I'll leave now so that you can make sure your sister's okay. I think she's beginning to wake up."

I glanced over at Nicole, and sure enough, she was beginning to stir.

"Do think about my proposal, Evelyn. I'd really like for us to help each other." And with those words, he let go of my wrists and left the house a speed incredible even for a vampire.

I ran over to Nicole and teleported us both back to my room. She groaned at the sudden movement.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "Can I get you anything?"

"Some ice and two Tylenol," she mumbled as she began using her power to heal the various bruises on her body.

I ran downstairs to get her things and quickly checked the house to make sure that no one was home. I didn't want there to be any eavesdropping when I told Nicole what happened. Satisfied that the house was empty, I ran back up to my room pleased to see Nicole sitting on my bed looking much more alert than she'd been five minutes ago.

She took the Tylenol and gulped down the water I handed her, and then stared at me for a while as if she was trying to figure something out. Then she asked the million dollar question.

"What happened?"

I explained to her in full detail everything I could remember about my conversation with Lucas, from his apparent knowledge of how Mom had ordered me to kill Anthony and his brothers to his offer to turn me into a vampire. When I finished, she continued to regard me with that same look.

"You're really lucky when it comes to that vampire," she mused.

I stared at her. After everything I'd just told her, she wanted to talk about how _lucky_ I was?

"Every time you face him, you come out alive, and usually relatively unhurt. That doesn't usually happen for most hunters. I'm a little jealous," she said.

This pleased me a bit. I'd spent so much of my life jealous of my older sisters that, Nicole saying that gave me an irrational kind of high.

"But what should I do?" I asked her. "Do you really think he's not going to tell Anthony that I'm supposed to kill him? Or should I tell Anthony myself?"

"I think –" she sighed.

"You think what?"

"I think you need to figure it out on your own."

"What?" I asked in shock.

"You just keep asking me what I think you should do, but really these decisions affect you a million times more than they do me. Honestly, I don't know what to do any more than you do. I don't really have a master plan here. I've been making everything up as I go along, and just when I think I've finally wrapped my head around the situation, you come and give me a whole new spiel of new problems to add on to the old ones. It's hard to keep up with you Evelyn," she said, looking at me sadly.

"So, you're done helping me?" I asked, feeling angry even though I knew I had no right to be. She didn't _have _to help me, after all. Actually, she was putting herself in danger by doing so.

"No, of course not," she said. "I'm just resigning as the brains of the operation. I'll go along with whatever crazy plan it is _you_ come with up because I want to keep you and Emily safe."

"But I don't know what to do," I whined. "If I could've figured it out on my own I wouldn't have involved you in the first place."

"I wear myself out worrying about you, Evelyn. Look, I'm going to check on Emily to see how she's doing. You figure out what you're going to do with your life. And you know, if you'd thought about these problems in the first place, you wouldn't be in this mess right now."

"If I wanted a sister who would lecture me, I would've gone to Cheryl or Olivia," I said petulantly. I didn't respond when she told me bye as she teleported off to go see Emily.

Having other people fix your problems was supposed to be the perk of being the youngest in the family. I sat alone, thoroughly sulking now.

_ …if you'd thought about these problems in the first place, you wouldn't be in this mess right now._ Nicole's words ran through my head. Well no kidding, I thought irritably. If I'd known Anthony would turn out to be the nephew of the vampire who killed my father and that he'd be connected to the vampire who turned one of my best friends into a vampire I would've never looked at him twice. Really this was all his fault.

_No it wasn't._ Damn the annoying voice in my head. Okay fine, as far as I know Anthony hadn't done anything to hurt me intentionally. And as stupid as it was, knowing everything I did now, I still couldn't imagine not having been with Anthony. Selfish or not, being together with him made me happy.

I knew I made my own decisions, and that's why I was deep in the mess I was in now. This, of course, was precisely why I shouldn't be making decisions. I needed Nicole to come back and tell me what to do.

I sat on my bed for a while, going through my memories of Anthony and me together. And then it came to me. I couldn't kill Anthony. No matter how much, I'd been trying to convince myself that it was the right thing to do, the best thing to do, I knew I would never be able to stab him with a knife. It really didn't matter if he was lying to me about Juana's death, or if he had some other secrets, killing him was out of the question.

I wish this revelation had come with some sort of master plan on what do about my plethora of problems, but it didn't. It did, however, make what I was about to do next feel more right.

I teleported straight to the hotel room where Anthony was staying and was thankful to find that he was alone.

"Evelyn," Anthony said my name in surprise as he jumped up from the chair he was sitting on.

"I need to talk to you," I said.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" He asked. His fingers gently stroked the side of my face causing the butterflies in my stomach to go crazy, and he frowned at me in concern.

"I want to tell you everything, but first I need to know why you lied to me," I said, watching carefully for his reaction.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. He was looking at me like I was crazy.

"I heard you talking to your brothers," I explained. "You were talking about how Juana was dead. When I asked you if you'd heard anything about her, you lied. I need to know why."

Anthony closed his eyes and sighed. "Please don't be angry, I didn't tell you because I was worried that you would be upset that I'd been talking to Lucas. Everyone's been so on edge recently, and I agreed with my brothers that I would keep it a secret for now. Mark has been suspicious that –"

"Mark was right," I blurted out. "I'm supposed to be preparing to kill you and your brothers."

Anthony's eyes widened as he continued to stare at me, but I felt relieved. I didn't have to keep this secret anymore, and fake a relationship with him. I filled him in on the details of what my mom and the Administratio wanted me to do. When I finished, he just looked at me.

And then, his arms reached out and he pulled me close to him, one arm was around my back, the other held my hair and he kissed me. His lips were soft and earnest, and for the first time in a long time, I kissed him back without a worry in the world.


	33. Chapter 33

_Hi everyone, so it's a been a while, but this chapter has given me more problems than probably any chapter I've ever written. __My characters are always surprising me. __I had to change the outline I had for the last final chapters of this story and everything. And there might be a few more chapters than I'd originally anticipated, but no worries, we're still super close to the end. I know it's been a bit of a long wait, but this is the longest chapter I've ever written. Also, I want to say thank you so much for your wonderful reviews. Really, you guys have no idea how much they make my day when I read them. Enjoy the chapter! :)  
_

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As he kissed me, it occurred to me that this was not a normal reaction to someone telling you that they had orders to kill you. As much as I was enjoying being lost in the moment, this was not the reaction I'd expected. He pulled away from my lips and kissed my cheek before pulling away to look at me adoringly. This, of course, had me staring back at him wide-eyed, mouth slightly agape as I wondered whether or not he'd heard my explanation about my plans to kill him correctly.

"You just kissed me," I said in shock.

"Well, aren't you aware of your surroundings?" he teased. "I assume they teach you to be very alert about what's going on at vampire hunter school."

"Why did you kiss me?" I asked, determined to understand what was going through his head.

"Because you're my girlfriend," he smiled as he said this, as if it were all some game.

Annoyed with his lack of ability to grasp the magnitude of my frustration, I pushed him up against the wall and pulled out the dagger I'd brought with me and poised it ready to slit his throat. Anthony stared at me impassively.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked.

"I'm not the one who's getting violent," he said.

"Are you kidding me? This is coated with poison. It can _kill _you, and you're standing here joking around?" I glared at him.

"Well, if you remember correctly, you used to threaten to kill me all the time before we started dating. I assumed this was your way of flirting with me."

I released him from my grip and stepped away. "Flirting? Do you think that's normal? Is that how girls flirted with you in however many centuries it is you've been alive? They threatened to kill you, and you figured that meant that meant they liked you?"

"No, baby, you're the only one who threatens to kill me. That's how I knew you had to be special," he said with a grin.

"Will you be serious?" I said through clenched teeth.

Then, without even seeing him move, I was pinned against the same wall I'd just pushed him against, and Anthony bared his fangs at me.

"You want me to fight you?" he asked.

I was angry now. I tried pushing against his chest, but he wouldn't budge.

"At least now I know you're taking me seriously," I said.

His lips curled up more, and for the first time he seemed legitimately angry. "You think I don't take you seriously?"

"Well, I tell you I have to kill you, and you seem to think that it's a big joke."

"Is it bad thing for me to be sure that you don't want to kill me?" he asked.

"I thought I could do it," I admitted. "I told myself over and over again that if I did this it would fix everything."

"What about Emily?"

I sighed. "Well there's your proof that I really have no clue what I'm doing. I don't know what to do about Emily. I never did. I was just going along with things, letting the chips fall, you know?"

"I wish you'd told me sooner," he said. "You must have been a mess."

"I don't know what I'm doing," I said. "Nicole just told me that I need to figure something out. I think she's fed up with all of my problems. I don't know what to do."

I hated the way my voice cracked, and the tears that were threatening to spill over. Everything was such a mess.

Anthony pulled me to him. It felt good being in his embrace. He was comforting and strong.

"Why don't you slow down for a while?" he suggested.

"What do you mean?" I sniffled and blinked away the tears.

"A lot's been happening. You should just relax, and try to be normal for a few days. It'll calm you down a bit."

"But I don't have time to calm down," I whined. "The Administratio doesn't want me to be normal. It wants me to kill vampires."

"I know everything now, though. You won't have to hide anything anymore, from me at least. Just go to school and be normal, and after that you'll actually be allowed to be with me. You can come over, and we'll work on a fool proof plan to kill Lucas."

"You're okay with that?" I had to ask to be sure. "He _is_ your uncle."

"I'm not proud of it," he said. "Don't worry about it. My uncle's had it coming for a long time."

"What about your brothers? Won't they hate me when you tell them everything?"

Anthony raised an eyebrow at me. "You really like to worry about everything don't you?'

"I'm serious," I insisted. "They have every right to hate me. Especially since I know Mark's been suspicious for a while now."

"It takes a lot to offend my brothers. Eric will let just about anything bounce off of him, and Mark will just be happy to finally know the truth. So please, just _stop_ worrying."

I jumped at him, and pulled him down for a kiss.

"You're the best," I told him. "Did you know that?"

He grinned at me. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I did."

I rolled my eyes and shoved him away from me. "I'm off to take your advice and relax a little. All you vampires wear me out. I'm going to take a nap."

Before I could teleport out of the room, Anthony grabbed my wrist.

"Stay here," he said.

"Huh?"

He smiled. "Stay here, and take a nap. Do you really think I haven't noticed that you've been on edge ever since your mother returned? It'll be nice to spend some time with you while you're not freaking out about something. Besides I'm paying for this hotel room, someone might as well use the bed."

"Are you saying the only time I'm not freaking out about anything is when I'm asleep?" I wanted to seem offended, but he had me in a good mood. And the only time I wasn't freaking out probably _was_ while I was sleeping…

"I didn't say that."

Wanting to appear annoyed, I huffed and turned toward the bed. "Why did you get a room with a queen sized bed if you know you're not going to sleep in it?"

He shrugged. "I like to live in luxury."

I marched over to the bed, kicked off my shoes, and lay down. The sheets were soft and the pillows were fluffy. I closed my eyes, and tried to block everything out, but I still heard Anthony move. He slipped into the bed, and I could feel him behind me. He put an arm around me and pressed his lips to my hair.

"I'm trying to take a nap," I grumbled. "Don't you have something better to do?"

"What can I say? I'd much rather be with you than spend my time doing anything else right now," he said.

I snorted. "That line's so cute and corny that I have to wonder what cheesy, romantic comedy you stole it from."

His lips were at my neck and I could feel them turn up into a smile. "I thought you wanted to nap?"

"I do," I insisted. "Stop talking to me."

I closed my eyes again, and let myself drift off into sleep. It felt good lying there while he was so close, with his arm around me. This was exactly what I'd needed for a while now.

xxx

I'd taken Anthony's advice, and for the past few days I focused more on being normal, and less on hunting. My mom had been busy, so she didn't notice or pay much attention to what I was doing, which was good.

The idea of telling Nicole that I'd told Anthony everything had turned me into a nervous wreck, but when I finally told her she didn't have much of a reaction.

xxx

"_As long as you know what you're doing," she'd said._

"_I really don't," I'd admitted. "But this just feels right. It's like a big weight off my shoulders. Telling him really doesn't solve any of my problems, and I know you could argue that it makes my problems worse, but I don't regret it at all."_

"_You know that now that Anthony knows what Mom wants you to do, it's going to be pretty much impossible to kill him and his brothers, right?"_

_I nodded. "I really don't think I ever would've been able to. I'm just going to try and deal with my problems one at a time, and right now the biggest issue is Lucas."_

xxx_  
_

My days of rest and relaxation came to an abrupt end, however, when Olivia found me out.

Anthony had taken me out for dinner that night. I'd assumed everything went perfectly, but when I walked into my room, Olivia teleported right in front of me.

"_So your little vampire boyfriend knows everything, does he? And Nicole's in on it too? I can't believe you actually get surprised when everything blows up in your face with all the trouble you cause," she'd said._

_I fell back into my playing dumb routine. "What are you talking about?"_

_Olivia rolled her eyes. "Don't bother pretending, I followed you tonight. You've been so off lately, I wanted to see what was going on in your life that had you so bipolar. You really shouldn't discuss things with your boyfriend in public places like that, you could get caught."_

_I couldn't remember ever feeling such an odd combination of fury and fear. "What did you hear?" I asked through clenched teeth, the entire time my heart was pounding. "And how is it even possible you were close enough to hear us? We would have sensed you."_

"_I heard everything," she said simply. "I managed to get a bit of that potion that prevents vampires and other hunters from sensing you for short periods of time. Although, you two were so wrapped up in each other, I probably didn't need it anyway."_

"_By 'managed to get' I'm going to assume you mean steal. That stuff is rare, it takes years to brew, and the ingredients are almost impossible to find." It felt weird, me chastising one of my sisters._

"_I can't believe _you're_ lecturing me. Believe me, no one's going to care about what I did when they hear what you did," she said smugly. I wanted to slap her. _

"_Nicole!" I screeched. I was so pissed off. I could _not_ handle this right now._

"_What?" she asked as she walked into the room. "I don't care if you two are fighting. You two need to learn to solve your own problems, or call Cheryl because I'm not dealing with this," she said after one look at the pair of us._

"_She knows," I'd hissed._

_Nicole stared at me blankly for a moment. "Knows what?"_

"_I know that your little sister went to dinner with her vampire boyfriend, and they talked all about how they were so glad to be all happily in love again and how you were being so nice about it by helping cover for them," Olivia explained._

"_Olivia, I can explain everything—" Nicole started._

"_Olivia _stole_ a potion from the Administratio," I accused._

_She rolled her eyes. "I took some of it from Mom."_

"Mom's_ in the Administratio. Taking it from her is taking it from them," I insisted petulantly, anything to keep the topic off of Anthony and me._

"_It's funny how you care about the law so much in some ways, but you couldn't care less in others, like, I don't know, when you're dating a _blood sucking leech_," Olivia screamed at me._

"_Alright, stop it!" Nicole said before I come back with a retort. "Olivia, you don't know the whole story. Evelyn, tell her the whole story."_

"_What?" I was sure I was looking at her like she'd grown a second head._

"_Would you rather let her continue to think what she's been thinking or do you want her to know the entire truth?" Nicole asked patiently._

"_I want her to completely forget that tonight ever happened," I pouted._

"_Well that's not an option," Nicole reminded me._

_I considered the different ways this could go, and realized that my only chance – an admittedly very slim chance – at not having this completely blow up in my face was to attempt to make Olivia see my side of things._

_I took a deep breath and started from the beginning. "This whole mess began when Anthony saved me from a vampire while I was hunting with Ethan…"_

"_So let me get this straight, you actually think this vampire is good? So good that you're willing to trust him completely?" Olivia asked me. She then looked at Nicole, "And you agree with her?"_

"_Whoa, I wouldn't go that far," Nicole said. "I don't completely trust the vampires, but they have been taking good care of Emily, who I _do_ trust. It wasn't her fault she got turned. I never said that I thought it was a good idea that Evelyn was dating the vampire. For now, I just want to focus on getting rid of Lucas and helping Emily stay safe. Can we please take care of that before you decide if you want to tell anyone about Evelyn's…transgressions?"_

"_I'll keep your secret," Olivia said to me._

_I narrowed my eyes at her, waiting for the punch line. "I don't believe you."_

"_I have a condition, of course," she said._

"_That sounds like the sister I know and love. What do you want?"_

"_I want to help you," she said with a completely straight face._

_I waited – longer this time – for the punch line. "I don't believe you."_

"_I hate Lucas as much as you do," she reminded me. "And Emily was my friend too. Let me help kill Lucas and save Emily, and I'll keep your precious secret," she promised. "I'm sure you'll ruin everything without me saying anything soon enough anyway," she mumbled._

_I glared at her. "I don't think you understand. Helping would mean working with _vampires. _You hate vampires. It'd be much more helpful for you to just keep your mouth shut, and act like tonight didn't happen."_

"_You know, there was a time when _you _hated vampires too," she reminded me._

"_I do hate vampires," I insisted. "There just happen to be four vampires who I like."_

"_This is getting nowhere," Nicole sighed._

_I'd almost forgotten she was there in the middle of my fight with Olivia. She looked completely worn out, and for the millionth time, I felt bad about all the problems I continued to dump on her._

"_Tell her to let me help," Olivia said to Nicole. "You know I can help."_

"_I don't trust her," I complained to Nicole. "You know she won't be able to spend five seconds around any vampires without trying to kill him. I don't want the Carsons to have to deal with that, and it'll just stress Emily out more."_

"_Extra brain power couldn't hurt," Olivia was still only talking to Nicole. "I know Evelyn can't be much help in that department."_

_I saw Nicole's face, and I knew she was considering the benefits of Olivia's help._

"_You said I had to make my own decisions in this from now on," I reminded her. "You said that you would go along with what I wanted to do, and I don't want her involved."_

_Nicole looked at me, clearly exasperated. "Fine, so what now? Please, tell me how you plan on handling this."_

_I turned to Olivia. "Can't you just not say anything? We'll deal with this, okay? This was _my _mess. You don't need to be involved."_

_She shook her head. "I don't trust you to get everything done. Besides, how will I know you're telling the truth about these allegedly good vampires unless I see it for myself?"_

_I closed my eyes and pinched my nose, frustrated beyond belief. What should I do? I knew I couldn't just march into Anthony's house and introduce him to my manipulative, vampire hating sister._

"_Okay, how about this," I suggested, "I'll go with Nicole tomorrow and talk this over with the Carsons and Emily, and we'll see how they feel about working with another hunter. It's not like it'll work if they aren't okay with it."_

"_No," Olivia said._

"_Actually, I think that sounds really fair," Nicole said._

"_But you know she's just going to tell them it's a bad idea," Olivia whined. "There's no way a bunch of vampires are just going to be okay with a hunter they don't know coming to their house or cave or whatever it is they live in."_

"_I'll be there to make sure she doesn't do that," Nicole said. "And Evelyn's right, it really won't work if they aren't okay with it."_

"_Fine," Olivia said through clenched teeth. "But you better do a good job of convincing them because I'm sure if I tell the Administratio about this, you'll be wishing you had my help."_

_With that lovely, ominous statement she teleported out of my room._

xxx_  
_

Nicole was much more eager than she'd originally let on to have Olivia join the kill Lucas/save Emily team. I suspected that after some thought she'd realized that if Olivia joined us, she wouldn't have to be the only one at home covering for me and stressing out over my mountain of problems. I also imagined that she probably wanted someone who she could let off steam with, instead of always having to listen to my frequent rants and meltdowns. This was perfectly understandable, but having to convince people that I thought working with Olivia was a good idea was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life.

"_Let me get this straight, _another_ one of your sisters found out about you and Anthony, and now she has to get involved too?" Mark asked when I finished explaining about how Olivia had caught Anthony and me._

"_Pretty much," I answered._

_I'd already spoken to Anthony about this. He, as usual, was fine with what I wanted, and he'd promised that his brothers wouldn't be too difficult to convince¸ but Mark seemed determined to prove him wrong._

"_Evelyn, I really don't think it's a good idea to bring any more of your family members into this," Mark said, looking me square in the eye._

_Anthony had been accurate about how his brothers would feel after he told them about how I'd been plotting to kill them…sort of._

_Eric found it amusing, and constantly teased me about how much he would love to get into a fight with me any day. Mark had been less amused. I'd honestly thought he'd moved past it after the initial shock. He'd been a bit standoffish towards me, but still fairly polite and hospitable._

"_It'll be fine, Mark. I can't wait to have more hunter friends," Eric said._

"_Let me stop you right there," Nicole said quickly. "I am not now, nor will I ever be, your _friend._ I am here solely because of my sister and Emily."_

_Eric shrugged. "You'll come around."_

_I knew part of his lightheartedness about this subject had to do with the poorly concealed look of hope on Emily's face. I could tell she was excited that another one of her hunter friends was willing to accept her and help her._

"_Fine, but you better not be lying about this sister of yours," Mark warned me. "We already have one who's less than pleased to be here, and I'm not very excited about evening out the vampire to hunter ratio in this house, especially since you've admitted that you the only way to save yourself from your absurd Adiministratio is to kill us."_

_I couldn't be angry at him. He was just worried about himself and his family. I could understand his concern. I refused to let myself be upset with him. Anthony, however, did not share my empathy._

"_Don't threaten her," he said to his brother, fangs bared. "She hasn't done _anything_ to us."_

"_Anthony, don't," I pleaded. I tugged at his arm, trying to make him face me. He was not about to get into a fight with his brother over _me.

_Mark let his own fangs show, but instead of glaring back at his brother, he stared intently at me._

"_Okay," Nicole jumped up. "When the vampires start getting violent that's my cue to leave. Come on, Evelyn."_

"_What's the matter, can't handle a fight?" Eric asked her._

"_No, I just know that if there was a fight, I'd have to join in, and then you'd all be sorry," Nicole said with a smirk._

_I wrapped my arms around Anthony's neck. "Please don't fight," I whispered to him and gave him a peck on the cheek._

_Nicole yanked me away from him, and we teleported back home. And that was how it became official that Olivia would join us._

xxx_  
_

"I don't see how we can pull this off," Emily said hopelessly. "Lucas is so _elusive_, and it's like this is all one big game to him."

She'd just walked into the Carson's living room where Anthony, Eric, Mark, Nicole, Olivia, and I were sitting around the Carson's living room attempting to create some sort of plan to kill Lucas, and we were failing miserably.

"Have a little faith, sweetheart," Eric said to her. "We're not completely useless, we'll figure something out."

Hearing Eric call Emily "sweetheart" was still taking some getting used to for me. I'm sure Emily never in her wildest dreams thought that she could fall for a vampire, but the two of them together were really cute.

"I don't understand why you guys won't let me help. I'm getting stronger every day," Emily complained.

"You're still too new as a vampire," Mark said. "It's only been a few months. You can barely go a few hours without drinking blood. You've hardly had any time at all to master being a vampire. Trust me, you'd be more of a liability fighting Lucas than anything else."

"Do you think of me as a liability in your home too, Mark?" Emily asked quietly.

Everyone turned to stare at him waiting for a reaction. Eric's face froze in a glare toward his brother.

"Emily, all I mean to say is that young vampires are weaker, and they need time to adjust. I don't have any problems with the _vampires_ in my house," he turned to look directly at me.

"Come on, Mark, Evelyn promised she doesn't want to kill us anymore," Eric said, nudging his brother playfully. "Say you're sorry and be nice."

Everyone – Mark included – ignored Eric. I gripped onto Anthony's hand, silently willing him to not start another fight with his brother over me. I wasn't sure what to say, Mark had every right to not trust me, far more like me.

Olivia, however, had her own opinion on the situation, and she clearly wasn't afraid to share it.

"I'm sorry, are you angry at my sister for being ordered to kill you?" she asked him. "Because in case you'd forgotten somewhere along this twisted journey you all decided to take together, she is a vampire hunter. Killing vampires is what she does, it's what our society expects her to do."

Nicole and I exchanged a look. Neither of us knew what to do. Olivia was hard to stop when she got riled up about something.

"I'm angry at your sister for putting my brothers and me in the middle of all this because now I have to help your sister kill my uncle in the hope that your family doesn't kill me," Mark shouted.

I jumped at that. Mark was usually soft-spoken. Even when he was upset – and I'd seen him very upset these past few days – he still had an overall calm demeanor. Eric and Anthony were clearly the more rambunctious brothers.

"I had no idea you were so fond of your uncle, the psychotic murderer who killed my father. And if you want to point your finger at someone for all these problems you have, maybe you should consider your brother," Olivia practically snarled at him.

"Now, now I haven't done anything wrong here. There's no reason for anyone to blame me," Eric said.

The look of death Olivia shot at Eric let him know that she was not amused. "I wasn't talking about _you_. He's the idiot who started this," she said, pointing at Anthony.

"The way I heard it, _you_ were the one who insisted on following my sister around, and _you_ were the one who convinced her to get into this twisted, sick relationship you have," she said to Anthony.

Olivia turned back to Mark. "So the next time you're feeling particularly angry about the way things in your life are going, take it up with your brother because no _vampire_ talks to my sister that way."

I sat with my eyes wide, mouth hanging open. I would always remember this day in history as the first – and probably last – time Olivia ever stood up for me.

Mark opened his mouth, clearly about to tell Olivia off, but Anthony stopped him.

"Don't," he said. "She has a point."

"Do you have a problem with killing Lucas, Mark?" I asked.

"Lucas hasn't done anything to us. He's dropped in on us sporadically over time, and sometimes he tries to stir up trouble, but for the most part he leaves us alone," Mark said in answer.

"What are you talking about?" Anthony asked his brother. "Lucas hypnotized me. He could do it to any of us. He's a threat."

"We've always known that he could do that. But it's never even made you consider killing him until _she_ came into the picture," Mark said, pointing at me.

"You think of yourselves as _good_ vampires, right?" Nicole asked him.

He turned to face her, seemingly surprised that she was joining in on this conversation. "Yes," he answered.

"Then why would you defend Lucas? He's a murderer," she reminded him.

"It isn't my job to keep any vampires in line," Mark growled.

His fists were balled up, and I could tell he was close to losing his cool again. Olivia was staring him down. I knew if he made one wrong move, she would pounce at him.

"You don't have to be involved," Eric said to Mark. "If you don't like the way things are going, you can leave."

"I see," Mark said, looking around the room at all of us. "I'm getting thrown out because you two are afraid your girlfriends might leave you if you don't help out the hunters."

"No one's throwing you out, you idiot," Anthony said. "All we're saying is if you don't want to be here, then you don't have to be."

Mark was about to respond, but stopped when he sensed it. We all sensed it. Outside the house, in the backyard there were vampires.

I could feel it, there were two of them. One was strong, the strength I always felt around Lucas. I would have assumed it was him, but there was another vampire. And I knew Lucas worked alone.

This other vampire was weak, weaker than even Emily, who'd only spent a few months as a vampire. This vampire was brand new.

I pulled out my dagger, and saw Olivia and Nicole copy my movement. I made myself invisible, and I noticed Olivia focus her attention on me with her face scrunched up like she was concentrating extra hard. She seemed satisfied after a few seconds and returned her attention to the problem at hand.

"Stay," Eric mouthed to my sisters, but before he could leave or Nicole and Olivia could object, the back door slammed. In the blink of an eye, Lucas was standing in front of us, with the other vampire leaning on him for support. I tried to get a good look at the unidentified vamp, but the front of his body was turned more toward Lucas. He looked awkward and weak – especially for a vampire – slumped there against Lucas.

"Hello," he said. "Olivia? I have to say this is shocking. I never thought I'd see the day when you would trust vampires."

"You're right. You never will see the day," Olivia said.

Lucas smiled. "I do love your temper. Now, where's Evelyn? She's the cause of all this. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have to keep track of the company my nephew's keep so often. Hunters are so very dangerous. Come on, she must be somewhere in this room, invisible like a coward."

I wasn't going to rise to the bait. It was good that he didn't know where I was in case I needed to attack him.

"Who is that?" Eric asked, pointing to the barely conscious vampire still leaning on Lucas.

"I was hoping someone would ask," Lucas said, cheerfully. "Perhaps your hunter friends can identify him."

Lucas shoved the vampire forward, and gripped his hair to yank his head up so that we could all get a good look at the vampire's face.

"Oh my god," Nicole said.

Emily gasped, staring at the vampire's face in a kind of shocked horror.

Olivia just stood there with her eyes wide open, shaking her head back and forth like she refused to believe what she was seeing.

When it registered with me who that vampire was, the shock made lose focus and my invisible shield disappeared.

"Evelyn," Lucas greeted me, "So nice of you to join us."

The new vampire who Lucas was holding on to was Ethan.

* * *

_Now I know as far as cliffhangers go, this one's pretty bad, but I promise to try my very best to update within the month of March. I already have over 600 words written, so that's progress, right?_


	34. Chapter 34

_Hi everyone! Here's chapter 34, within the month of March, as promised. It seems my characters don't have the same interest I do in moving things along at a reasonable pace. If they keep wanting to drag things out we'll never get to the end. Don't worry, though, I'm in the process of negotiating with them. On the bright side, their stubbornness means that you guys get long chapters. :) I actually didn't expect to finish this chapter tonight, but I couldn't stop. I really need to focus on school, though so I can't say when the next chapter will be. Hopefully it'll come next month. I also want to say thank you for being such wonderful readers. I really can't say that enough. Your reviews (as always) have been wonderful. Thank you for your feedback, I really, truly appreciate it. I'm so glad that you all have been enjoying this story. Anyways, enough of my rambling. Enjoy!_

* * *

"You turned him?" I shrieked, horrified and more confused than I'd ever been in my life.

"Really, Evelyn, your ability to put two and two together is quite mind blowing," Lucas taunted.

"That's n-not possible," I stammered, trying to wrap my head around what was clearly right in front of me.

Lucas just stared back at me, amusement dancing in his eyes. I could tell he was enjoying everyone's confusion.

"We buried Ethan's body," Nicole murmured.

That was exactly what I was thinking. Ethan was dead. I'd held his lifeless body myself. There'd been tons of people at his funeral. They'd all seen him get buried. It wasn't possible to change someone into a vampire after they died.

"What did you do, Lucas?" Anthony asked.

"I can't believe you're being so cold to me, Anthony. And all because of one little huntress," Lucas said. "Do you _really_ think you can trust her? Think about it, she's already gotten you to invite two of her vampire-hating sisters into your home with open arms. It won't be long before you've had the entire Administratio over, and before you know it –

"Enough!" Anthony cut him off. "_Evelyn_ didn't hypnotize me. How did you turn Ethan?"

"It was all part of my plan. You see, I wanted you to stop seeing your precious _Evelyn_. A vampire dating a hunter is just _so _wrong. But that was before I saw the possibilities it presents…"

"Stop rambling and answer the damn question," Anthony snapped.

"Oh my god," Emily gasped.

Everyone turned to her, shocked at her outburst.

"It was a clone. You made it look like you killed Ethan, but really it was just a clone of his body," she accused Lucas.

"It took you long enough to figure it out, considering cloning was _your_ power" Lucas smirked. "It really is a most useful power, you must miss it."

Emily bristled at his taunting. She clenched her fists tightly together, but didn't respond.

"My apologies," Lucas continued. "I should have known that your power would still be a soft spot for you. You hunters really are very fond of them, aren't you? I tried to get Evelyn here to give up hers, but she won't budge."

"It's stupid that you would think there's a chance I'd _ever_ give my power to you," I said.

"It's stupid that you would think there's a chance your relationship with my nephew is going to work out," Lucas retorted.

"He has a point," Olivia muttered under her breath.

I glared at her. "This is _so_ not the time."

"Why did you bring Ethan here?" Anthony asked.

"I want you to take him off my hands," Lucas answered. "You all seem to be so accommodating to all of Evelyn's friends, after all. And new vampires are just so much trouble, they're like children really. I remember when I had to juggle you three, I had my hands full."

"It's not like we asked you to turn us," Eric said.

"I suppose that's true, and I certainly have my hands full now that you've all decided to become friends with the enemy. But it does make life as a vampire so much more _interesting_."

"I don't understand," I said.

Lucas nodded sagely. "I'm not surprised. I have a feeling Anthony was looking more for beauty rather than brains when he chose to date you."

Anthony opened his mouth, obviously about to set Lucas straight, but I spoke before he could do anything. I was growing used to Lucas's snide little comments. I'd realized it was his way making people emotional, which kept them off their guard.

"I meant I don't understand why you would turn Ethan. It couldn't have been for his power. He had the power of super speed. Vampires already have that."

"Very good, Evelyn," Lucas said condescendingly. "I should give you more credit. You're right. While Ethan here can move faster than any vampire I've ever seen, I didn't change him because of that. But you don't really expect me to give everything away do you?"

"What if we don't take Ethan?" Mark asked. "What if we don't want the burden of a new vampire either?"

Lucas shrugged. "Then I suppose I'll kill him."

"No!" I said. "You're not killing him."

Lucas was grinning from ear to ear. He wanted me to tell Anthony to save Ethan. He wanted this to happen to cause more trouble for his. It would just make his sick game more entertaining for him. If I told Anthony to save Ethan, I'd be playing right into Lucas's hands.

I caught Mark's eye, and I knew that his hatred towards me would only escalate if I told Anthony I wanted this. The last thing he wanted was another hunter in his house, even if it was a former hunter.

It was Eric who made the decision. "Just leave him here, and get out. We'll decide what to do with him."

"But we were having such a nice chat," Lucas protested. There was a time when I would have been welcome in your home for as long as I liked."

"Well that time is over. Get out," Anthony said.

Lucas sighed, and I could see the playful façade drop. He released Ethan from his grip. Ethan clearly didn't have any kind of strength to keep his eyes open, much less stand up. He fell to the floor, worn out.

"You haven't spoken to me much, Mark," Lucas said, his voice low and threatening. "Perhaps you've missed me."

Mark stared impassively back at Lucas. "Hardly."

I wanted to sigh in relief. At least Mark didn't seem to harbor any sentimental feelings toward his uncle.

"Does this mean you three have joined the ranks of the hunters? Perhaps you're all conspiring to kill me to keep Anthony's girlfriend happy?" Lucas taunted. "I really don't want to have to kill you boys."

I don't know how they managed to move perfectly in sync with each other, but Eric and Anthony both chose that moment to lunge at Lucas, the two of them effectively bringing him down.

"Stop, both of you," Lucas said. And just like that, they released him. Lucas locked eyes with Mark. "Mark, kill Eric," he ordered.

I gaped at Lucas. What was he doing?

"No!" Emily ran in front of Mark, but he tossed her aside easily.

He continued to head toward Eric. Both Eric and Anthony remained unmoving, still locked in Lucas's hypnosis. Ethan's body remained limp on the floor.

I moved in front of Mark. "Stop this," I told him. "You don't want to do this."

Olivia jumped at Lucas, ready to attack, with Nicole right behind her. I heard him hiss in pain which meant that one of their knives pierced his skin. Barely a moment after, Olivia cried out, and I heard the bone snap as Lucas broke her arm.

Meanwhile, Mark attempted to throw me aside the way he'd moved Emily, but I punched his arm away. He swung his arm at me again, and I ducked just in time. I didn't want to use my dagger on him. The poison could kill him. This did not help my situation. I wasn't used to fighting vampires to only deter them. The point of fighting them was always to kill.

In my peripheral vision, I could see the flurry of activity as Olivia and Nicole fought Lucas. I couldn't focus on what they were doing or who was winning. I needed to get Mark and his brothers to snap out of it.

I went invisible and kicked Mark square in the chest. He stumbled back, and I took that opportunity to slap him hard, right across the face.

Out of nowhere, Emily came behind Mark and bit his neck. He screamed at the pain and fell to his knees.

On the other side of the room, Nicole was healing herself. There was a puddle of blood on the floor that was coming from her right leg. Olivia appeared to be focusing all of her energy on using her power on Lucas. Her good hand was wrapped tightly around his wrist. She was burning his arm, and it seemed to be disintegrating to ash, but he was a vampire so it continuously regenerated itself, forcing Lucas into an ongoing cycle of torture. He was using his other hand to try to push her away.

"Anthony, kill Olivia," Lucas struggled to give the order through the pain, but it worked because Anthony's fangs were out as he headed towards Olivia.

"Stop!" Nicole screamed. She stopped healing herself to run to fight Anthony before he could reach Olivia.

Moving faster than I ever remember moving in my life, I grabbed one of my sisters' knives that had fallen to the floor and stuck it in Lucas's back. He shouted out as the poison entered his system, and Olivia stopped her torture on him, falling back to the couch clearly exhausted.

Anthony stopped fighting Nicole, and Eric finally moved and pulled Emily into his arms - away from Mark - who also came out of his hypnotized state.

Lucas managed to wrench the dagger out of his back. He grabbed me and sunk his fangs into my neck, using my blood to help himself heal. The excruciating pain overwhelmed me. It'd been a while since I'd felt the pain of a vampire bite.

It didn't last more than a few seconds, though because Anthony twisted Lucas's neck and pushed him away from me. I fell into his arms, suddenly feeling very weak.

Lucas escaped out of the house and the neighborhood with such speed that in a matter of seconds, I could no longer sense his presence.

I felt Nicole's warm hands at my neck as she quickly healed me before tending to Olivia's injuries.

"I cannot believe that just happened," Olivia said.

It took a few moments for my head to stop spinning, but when I finally felt my body return to its normal strength, I jumped up to address the elephant in the room.

"Ethan!" I ran over to him. He was face down on the floor. I turned him over and leaned close, brushing the hair out of his eyes.

His eyes snapped open, and he grabbed me and pulled me down to latch his mouth on to my neck. His fangs sank into the skin, and I screamed at the burning pain as he sucked the blood from my veins.

It didn't take long for Anthony to react. He easily pulled me away from Ethan's grip, while Eric pinned him down. Again Nicole had to come over and heal my neck.

"Ethan," my voice came out in a broken sob.

"He needs blood," Eric said.

"Clearly," Anthony deadpanned.

"Well give him some," I cried. Seeing the way that Ethan was clawing at Eric frightened me.

"I have a better idea," Mark said. He walked over to Ethan, and without a second thought hit him over the head, hard. Ethan fell ungracefully to the floor.

"What the hell?" I screeched. "Why did you do that?"

Mark wasn't fazed by my outburst. "He wasn't exactly being cooperative."

"Is he unconscious?" Olivia asked, walking up close to inspect his body. "I didn't know it was possible to knock out a vamp."

"It's possible to knock out a _new_ vampire. It takes a few weeks for a new vampire's body to grow into its full strength," Eric explained.

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked, pulling away from Anthony to get closer to my friend. I moved more cautiously toward him this time, fearful that he might suddenly wake up and bite me again.

"Sure, after he gets some blood he'll be fine. Physically, that is. Mentally, I don't know if he'll be able to deal with it," Eric said.

I wanted to ignore Eric's last statement, but I knew he had a point. The Ethan I knew would be disgusted with being a vampire. He would go through everything Emily was still going through and then some. At least Emily had been able to find a support system in the Carsons. I highly doubted that Ethan would be eager to make friends with any of them, especially Anthony.

"We should kill him now," Olivia said.

All eyes in the room turned to her. "Are you crazy?" I asked.

"Don't start with me, Evelyn. You know it's what he would want. That's what's supposed to happen when a hunter gets turned," she said, standing her ground.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Emily said softly.

Olivia took a deep breath. "Look, I said I'll help Emily, and I will. But we can't let this become a normal thing. Having vampire friends is _unnatural_." She looked at me pointedly.

"Why don't we just wait till he wakes up and see what he wants?" I suggested, trying my hardest to not fight with Olivia.

"That's not a bad idea," Emily said.

"Actually, it is a bad idea because he might try to suck the life out of someone again," Olivia said.

I looked to Nicole, hoping and praying that she hadn't already made up her mind to side with Olivia on this. "It's not fair," I complained. "This is exactly what happened to Emily. Ethan didn't ask to be turned either. Who knows what Lucas put him through? He hasn't done anything for you to kill him."

"Except for trying to kill you just now," Olivia said sarcastically.

"It seems the people close to you tend to get the short end of the stick," Mark said to me.

Olivia turned on him. "What did I tell you about the way you talk to my sister?"

Mark remained calm as my sister stared him down. "I'm just making an observation. But I agree with you on this. He should die."

"You don't get to decide –" I started to say angrily.

"Easy, Evelyn," Eric said. "Obviously no one knows what to do here. We're just exploring our options."

"We need to do something," Olivia said. "The only reason this is even an issue is because Evelyn's gone and decided that it's perfectly fine to be friends with vampires. Keeping Ethan alive just complicates things."

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out what she was saying. It was true, I suppose. I wasn't thinking about this the way a hunter should. I was holding on to some hope that Ethan and I could be friends again. After losing my best friend, who I'd been so awful to right before he died, I wanted to be able to fix our relationship.

Nicole touched my shoulder gently. "Evelyn, I know this is difficult, but Olivia has a point. This isn't the right thing for Ethan."

"So what do you want to do then?" I asked harshly, daring her to look me in the eye and say we should kill Ethan.

She shrugged and then hesitated. "We could vote."

"You want to _vote_ on whether or not my best friend gets to live or die?" My outrage at the idea made my voice crack. "That's not your decision to make."

"It's not yours either," Mark said.

I was about to argue, but he wouldn't let me get a word in.

"_You're _not the one who's going to have to take care of him. You won't be the one giving him a place to live or finding blood for him to drink or teaching him to use his powers as a vampire," he reminded me.

He had a point. It was selfish of me to want the Carsons to take care of Ethan without asking them how they felt about it. But whether they helped Ethan or not was irrelevant to the bigger picture. I wanted Ethan to live.

"I will," I said. "I'll help him learn to live as a vampire if you won't. He can't die."

"And if he wakes up in the next few minutes and asks you to put a knife in his heart? What will you do then?" Olivia challenged.

"Well, that's been my suggestion from the beginning hasn't it? To wait until he wakes up to do something."

I refused to think about how it would feel for Ethan to tell me he wanted to die. I just wanted to be able to talk to him again.

I looked at Anthony who I just realized had been oddly quiet throughout the debate. He was the only one who hadn't voiced some sort of opinion.

"Evelyn," he reached out and gently brushed his fingers along the side of my cheek. "Another vampire turned by Lucas, means that there's another vampire for him to control. You saw what just happened. I'm sure your friend won't like being at Lucas's mercy."

I stared at him in shock. I'd never known him to not give me exactly what I wanted, no questions asked. It was a selfish expectation, but I couldn't help it. In all the time I'd known him, he went out of his way to ensure I had everything I wanted.

"What are you saying?" I asked.

"I'm just suggesting that you listen to your sisters' point of view on this one," he said.

I slapped his hand away, furious. I literally could not believe what I was hearing. How was it that all of these people could be so invested in making sure that Emily stayed safe but at the same time think Ethan was too much of a problem? It was so cruel. So _wrong_.

"Well, that said, I vote we get rid of him before this turns into anymore of a mess," Olivia said.

"I agree," Mark said immediately after.

Nicole wouldn't look at me. "You guys are right," she said.

"I'm biased, but I think you should you're all being too harsh," Emily said. "He's new, he can't be that harmful. You shouldn't be so quick to kill."

"Exactly," I said, nodding enthusiastically. "Emily's right."

"That's two votes to save him against three to kill him," Olivia said.

Eric looked into Emily's pleading eyes for a long time and shrugged. "I don't have a problem helping him out. There's no reason for me to want to kill him."

The entire room turned to Anthony. It was a tie. He was the sway vote, but his eyes were glued to mine. I saw the sadness in them as he stared at me.

"Evelyn, I need to think about what's best for you," he said. "Being around another vampire isn't going to help your situation." His face twisted, as if it were physically painful for him to be saying these things, which it should be.

I shook my head frantically at all of them. "No," I said. "I won't let you."

Anthony reached out to touch me, but I pushed him away, and he stumbled back.

"Shall we get on with it then?" Olivia asked, moving toward Ethan.

"I said NO!" I screamed.

I dropped to the floor to hold on to Ethan and teleported us both out of the Carsons' house. The last thing I heard was my sisters calling out my name. I ignored them.

I took Ethan to a motel I'd come to with my dad when he'd still been training me to be a hunter. He favored it often because it was cheap and located in pretty much the middle of nowhere in the state of Arizona. I chose it specifically because no one knew I'd ever come here before. I refused to let them follow me or track me down somehow.

Of course, now I was stuck, and naturally I had no plan. You would think I would learn after making the same mistake over and over and over again, but no, here I was, for the millionth time, stuck in a situation that was entirely my fault and I had no clue what to do about it.

I rested Ethan's body down, at the back of the motel near the dumpster. I hated the idea leaving him alone, but I needed to pay for a room, and I couldn't very well do that with an unconscious body in tow.

I prayed that he wouldn't wake up in the few minutes it would take me to get us a room. I double checked my pockets to make sure I had a decent amount of money. Hunters were required to keep a good amount of cash with them at all times, just to be prepared.

The old man at the desk stared at me as I tapped my fingers impatiently while he looked up available rooms on the computer. It seemed that he was completely incapable of realizing the very obvious visual cues that I was in a hurry.

"Here you go, Miss. Room 126," he finally said, handing me a key.

I didn't even bother thanking him as I spun around and dashed out the door to find that, thankfully, Ethan was still slumped over, up against the wall where I'd left him.

I teleported us into room 126 and pushed his body down onto the bed. I needed a plan. Ethan was going to wake up soon. He was going to want blood, and I had no idea how to find it.

I realized that for as long as I'd been with Anthony, I was relatively hazy on the details of how he got his daily doses of blood. I knew he and his brothers stored some in their house, but I had no idea how they acquired it.

Even if I knew how to get some, that wouldn't help because I couldn't leave Ethan here to wake up alone. He could go on a rampage and kill someone. I thought back to the old man at the front desk. Was it stupid to bring Ethan near humans?

Before I could decide what to do, Ethan stirred. He rolled around on the bed, and then his eyes shot open. His fangs were out and his mouth was hanging agape. He sat straight up and looked around the room wildly. He was hungry.

I realized what the alternative to finding some source of blood for him was. I pulled out my knife, gritted my teeth and drew a line of blood along my forearm. I held it out to him, and he grabbed me to drink the blood greedily. I struggled to not scream out at the pain, and when I couldn't take it anymore, I tried pulling my arm away, but he gripped on to it tightly.

"Ethan, let go," I ordered.

He ignored me, continuing to suck as though his life depended on it. Realizing that my words would do nothing to snap him out of it, I used my knife to slice a small cut into his arm.

He recoiled immediately, hissing with pain at the poison. He stared at me in shock for a few moments before coming to his senses.

"Oh my god, Evelyn," he whispered.

I was grateful to hear him talk.

"Do you still need blood?" I asked. Now that he was coherent, maybe I could leave him alone for a little while to find him some.

He shook his head, looking down in amazement at the blood on his hands. "I have blood…everywhere," he said, wide eyed.

I nodded. "You always were a messy eater."

He looked at me, not amused by my feeble joke. "Why are we here?"

"I don't want you die," I said. "I brought you here to keep you safe."

"They wanted me dead. Your sisters did, right?"

"We can worry about them later. First, we need to take care of you."

He shook his head. "No, Evelyn. Your sisters want to do the right thing. You have to kill me. Look at me. I hurt you. I almost killed you just now. I'm a monster."

No, not him too. "You want to die?" I asked softly.

"I need to die. This is wrong, Evelyn. I was a vampire hunter. I can't live as a vampire."

"You didn't answer my question," I said. "I asked if you _wanted_ to die, not if you thought you should or you thought the hunters would think you should."

I looked him dead in the eye. He was my best friend. I knew him better than anybody. He could never lie to me when he was a hunter, so there was no reason that would change while he was a vampire.

He sighed. "No one _wants_ to die, Evelyn. But I know it's what I need to do."

"You don't _need_ to do anything. You haven't done anything wrong. You haven't killed anyone. You didn't ask to get turned. It just happened. When you tell me you honestly want to die because you can't stand being a vampire, I'll make that happen for you. Until then, you're stuck being alive."

"I honestly want to die because I can't stand being a vampire," Ethan said. He leaned back slightly after he said this. He always did that after a lie, it was his tell.

"You're lying," I said.

"How would you know?" he asked.

"I'm your best friend. I always know."

"Look, Evelyn, I'm scared about dying, who isn't? That's normal. But I can't do this. If I stay like this, I won't have any friends or family. I'll have nothing."

I had to give it to him. He was making a good case. "_I'm_ your friend. This is just a change in your life. Emily had to adjust. She didn't want to die either, and now she's doing fine."

Ethan sighed. "This is going nowhere. So why are we all alone in a cheap motel room? I thought we were at your boyfriend's house before?" I ignored the bitterness in his tone when he talked about my boyfriend.

"Well," I started hesitantly. "I was kind of outvoted about keeping you alive. It was close though, three to four to be exact."

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess you and Emily wanted me to stay alive, and your boyfriend took your side, and everyone else wants me dead." Again there was bitterness in his voice at the mention of Anthony.

"Not exactly," I said. "Anthony wanted you dead too, his brother Eric – Emily's boyfriend – took our side." I couldn't think about Anthony and his betrayal. How could he want to kill my best friend?

"So you… what? Grabbed my body, and ran away?"

I shrugged. "Pretty much."

"See? Me being a vampire is just causing problems for you," he said.

"That's not true!" I insisted. "You don't know how much I missed you when I thought you were dead. I'm happy to see you."

"You've developed an unhealthy liking to vampires," Ethan commented.

I rolled my eyes. I was so sick of hearing that. "I do not like all vampires. I like some vampires. I've seen that it's possible to be a vampire and not be evil. If I've learned anything, it's that hating someone just because of what they are is wrong."

Ethan held up his hands defensively. "Alright, alright, calm down. You win…for now. You're in charge. What's the plan, Boss?"

I looked at him sheepishly. "I'm still trying to figure that one out."

I could tell that he was trying to resist laughing at me. I wanted to tell him off. He should not be laughing at me right after I just saved his life. But I was enjoying myself. Even though the circumstances were definitely less than ideal and this was nowhere near the kinds of conversations we'd had before Anthony came into my life. It was nice being in Ethan's company.

"Maybe there is one good thing about being a vampire," he said coming closer to me.

"What's that?" I asked, eyebrows raised, I hadn't expect him to be an optimist about this so soon.

"I get to spend more time alone with you," he said, brushing a stray hair out of my face.

He looked at me meaningfully, his eyes softening. He was really close to me now. No. NO! He was leaning in to kiss me.


	35. Chapter 35

_Hey everyone! Here's chapter 35. I hope you like it. Thank you sooooooo much for reading and for the reviews. I really appreciate it more than you know. I'm hoping to get the next chapter out soon. I've already started writing it. I can't thank you guys enough for sticking with me even though I'm terrible about updating in a timely fashion. As always, your reviews both good and bad are welcome. Happy reading! :)_

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His lips were less than an inch away from mine. I was _not_ going to let this happen.

"Ethan, no," I said pushing him away.

His nostrils flared. "Why not?"

"Well, besides my _boyfriend_, you're covered in blood, so right now the idea of kissing you is kind of gross. No offense," I added.

Ethan looked down at his messy clothing and sighed. "I guess you have a point. So you're still gonna stay with the boyfriend even though he wants me dead huh?"

Oh no. I was not about to let him make me feel guilty. "Olivia and Nicole want you dead too. Should I disown them?"

Ethan grinned playfully, all intensity forgotten. "I'd be very flattered if you did."

I smiled back at him. "I'm going to going to get you some clean clothes. Will you promise me that you'll stay here while I'm gone? You could take a shower and try to wash off all the blood from your skin."

"Sure thing, boss," he said.

I frowned at how well he was cooperating with me. After all, just a few minutes ago he'd been set on having me kill him.

"I'm serious, Ethan. I need to be able to trust you."

"Don't worry about it. I'll stay out of trouble. I promise."

The first thing I did was teleport to a store to get some clothes for Ethan. I laid them out for him in the room, and walked outside to get some fresh air and to think about what I had to do next.

I knew eventually I would have to go back to Anthony's house, and there was nothing stopping my sisters from telling the Administratio that Ethan had been turned into a vampire, which was another problem I hadn't calculated into my plans when I brashly took Ethan to this motel. Even if they did plan on telling people about Ethan, I could at least count on them waiting a while. They'd need to get their story straight. They wouldn't want the other hunters to know that they'd been working with vampires.

Ethan would need blood again soon. I couldn't be his personal blood bank every time. Despite it being convenient, I had a feeling that Ethan wouldn't like that idea too much now that he was more or less himself again. Not to mention the fact that it was excruciatingly painful for me.

The Carsons had to store some blood in their house. That was the only explanation that made sense. I had no idea where they kept it though.

My problems were giving me a headache. I decided to go back to the Carson's house. I would need to face my sisters sometime. Maybe I could convince Anthony to see things my way, and if I couldn't, I was sure Emily would know where they kept the blood.

I made myself invisible and teleported into Anthony's house. I at least wanted to see what they were all doing before I saw them all again.

"This is all your fault," Olivia was fuming, jabbing her finger into Anthony's chest.

Anthony looked at her with stone cold expression on his face. I wasn't used to seeing him like that, and honestly it scared me a bit, but Olivia seemed unfazed.

"Olivia, will you just leave him alone for a minute? You're not helping," Nicole said tiredly.

"Well, neither is anything else. And it _is_ all his fault. Even Evelyn would never go seek out a vampire to be a boyfriend. He's the one who started this mess," Olivia complained.

"He's not the one who turned Emily or Ethan into vampires. He's not the one who killed dad either, so just stop, okay?" Nicole said firmly.

Olivia pursed her lips. It appeared that she had no rebuttal to that.

"I suggest you find your sister quickly," Mark said. "It's really not safe for to be hanging around with a new vampire. He's going to wake up eventually, and he's going to want blood."

"Oh, now you care about her?" Olivia sneered at him. "Thanks for the advice. Really, we didn't think we should find her soon. We were planning on taking our dear sweet time."

"Oh my god, Olivia shut up!" Nicole shouted.

The entire room turned to her. Outbursts were not her thing.

Anthony broke the silence. "Let's go over this again. Where would Evelyn go with an unconscious vampire in tow?"

Nicole took a deep breath. "Somewhere where no one could find her. There are places all over the world that I know she favors when she's hunting, but she wouldn't go there. If she doesn't want to be found she won't be."

Olivia's head snapped up. "You have no idea."

"What are you talking about?" Nicole asked.

"As long as Evelyn doesn't want us to find her we won't be able to. I've been thinking about this for a while now," Olivia said. "Evelyn's power doesn't just stop us from seeing her, it stops us from hearing her and smelling her –

"And sensing her," Anthony finished, understanding dawning on his face.

"Exactly," Olivia said.

Personally, I found this whole revelation confusing. Of course, my power stopped them from being able to sense me. If it didn't, my power would be all but useless. Thankfully, I didn't seem to be the only having trouble following Olivia and Anthony's line of thought.

"So what?" Nicole asked.

"Don't you see?" Olivia asked, as though it should be obvious. "Evelyn's power isn't invisibility. She's able to cut herself off from the senses. She's been able to go through solid objects a few times too, hasn't she?"ahfiejf

"She's only able to do that when she's invisible," Nicole said.

"That's not true. How come you never sensed her with the vampire while they were at school together? And when I found her with Anthony on their little date, I couldn't sense them at all. I didn't even pay much attention to it because I saw them quickly, but now that I think about it I couldn't sense either of them. Her power was blocking me," Olivia explained.

"I don't understand how she's doing it though," Nicole said. "I'm pretty sure she doesn't know that she can do that."

"I don't think she does," Anthony said. "When I was staying at the hotel, she listened to us talking about Juana's death. If she was close enough to hear us, she was close enough for us to sense her, but none of us did."

"So how does she do it?" Emily asked.

Emily had been sitting on the couch with her head in her hands – clearly stressed out – while Eric rubbed soothing circles on her back. It seemed the current conversation had piqued her interest and now she was staring at everyone, waiting for an explanation.

"I think it's an unconscious desire to keep from getting caught," Olivia said. "I don't think anyone ever really questioned the possibilities that come with Evelyn's power because no one ever realized she was using her power without being invisible, not even her.

Anthony fingers were kneading his forehead, something I knew he did to when something was bothering him. "I actually think someone did realize it," he said. "Lucas."

"Why do you think that?" Emily asked.

"Because he wants her power," Nicole answered softly. "Dammit."

"How would _he _figure that out though?" Emily wondered. "It's not like he's spent a lot of time around her. If he really does think that, then it has to just be a hunch."

"Actually, he's spent a decent amount of time around her. She's kind of lucky when it comes to him. Every time she sees him she manages to get away alive, and I think it's been twice now that she's stabbed him. He must have realized that he can't sense her, and that's how she gets so close to him," Nicole said.

"This revelation is all good and well, everyone, but this doesn't change the fact that she's on her own with a new vampire. If anything this just means it'll be harder to find her than we thought," Mark said.

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Are you worried about her now? I thought her existence was reason for all the misery in your life."

Mark glared at her, but before he could say anything Nicole cut in. "Don't start you guys."

"I think we should agree to help her with Ethan," Anthony said.

"Wow, you're ready to give in that fast?" Olivia sneered at him. "My sister really has you wrapped around her little finger, doesn't she?"

Anthony ignored her, instead preferring to talk to Nicole. "It's really not safe for a hunter to have so many vampire friends. I wanted him dead to keep her safe, but now if helping him is the only way to do that, then I don't really have a choice."

"That's all good and well," Eric said. "But we still have the little problem of _not knowing where she is_. Your girlfriend really knows how to make trouble."

Anthony shrugged. "She has to come back sometime, doesn't she?"

"Great, so is there another vampire we have to take care of now?" Olivia asked scathingly.

Emily's face fell and she looked away, but I don't think Olivia noticed.

"You're ready to help Ethan now?" Nicole asked, surprised. I had to admit, I was too.

"If it gets your hardheaded sister back, so we can carry on with our original plans to get rid of Lucas, I can deal with another vampire." Olivia looked around at the vampires in the room distastefully. "…I suppose."

At this point in the conversation, I decided to teleport back to the hotel. I'd heard enough, and now I'd be getting what I wanted. And the revelation about my power was…interesting. I had to admit I was a little embarrassed that I'd had the power my whole life, but Olivia was the one to realize what I could really do with it.

Standing in the motel room was Ethan…shirtless. I instantly covered my eyes with my hand and turned to face the opposite direction.

"Sorry, I should have knocked," I said.

Ethan chuckled softly from behind me. "Relax, you can turn around now. I'm decent."

I turned to face him, ready to tell him off if he made fun of me for blushing, but I was sidetracked by the sight of him. Now, all cleaned up and well fed, vampire Ethan looked pretty good. He actually looked better than good.

I'd always thought of Ethan as boyishly handsome, even baby faced. I never understood why girls at school seemed to fawn over him, other than the whole mysterious quality I guess being a vampire hunter had given him. That and the fact that I considered him to be the brother I'd never had.

Becoming a vampire enhanced looks. After all, being beautiful was what made them deadly predators, but it was strange seeing Ethan look so different yet the same. His face and body in general seemed to have taken on a more chiseled appearance, and all the more human problems, like acne and scars, had disappeared.

Apparently, I'd stared at him for too long because he said, "Like what you see? I'd forgotten that vampires were your type."

I rolled my eyes. "Don't start with me."

"Fine, what's the plan? Have you figured out how you're going to save me yet?"

I took a deep breath. "Well, it needs some fine tuning, but long story short we're going to go back to Anthony's house. I don't think everyone's so eager to kill you anymore."

"Really? Why would you think that?"

I told him about what I'd while I was eavesdropping at the Carsons house. "So I guess I'll go in first, and I'll talk to them about everything, and then I'll bring you and –"

"No," Ethan said firmly.

"No?"

"No," he repeated. "This may surprise you, Evy, but I'm not exactly thrilled about being your boyfriend's charity case."

"Ugh, will you get over it? If you want to survive you're going to have to swallow your pride, okay?"

Ethan crossed his arms and glared at me. "No. I don't want anything to do with him. You do realize that if you weren't dating him we wouldn't be in this mess? _I_ wouldn't be in this mess."

He had me there. It was partly my fault that he'd been turned into a vampire.  
"And how do you know they weren't just saying that stuff about helping me to lure you back. They might have suspected that you'd come back and be able to hear them," Ethan said.

I thought about that. Was I really that predictable? I didn't think I was. The more I thought about it, the more unlikely the idea of them tricking me seemed.

"They were leaving a lot to chance if they were planning on tricking me," I said. "How could they have known when I'd show up? They were right about my power – it does conceal me from their senses."

The idea of the new possibilities with my power gave me a kind of euphoric feeling. I would have to practice with it and once I mastered it, I'd be a much better hunter. I was so caught up with idea of how I could surprise the other hunters, that it took me a while to notice the sullen look on Ethan's face.

"Yeah, your power, great," he muttered.

I'd forgotten – and it was one of the most insensitive things I'd ever done – that Ethan no longer had his power. It was something that still bothered Emily, and I knew I wouldn't be able to come up with the right words to say. After all, I couldn't imagine losing my power. It would be like losing a limb.

"Vampires still have super speed," I said hesitantly. "They can move faster than hunters. At least you still have that. Emily completely lost hers."

"It's not the same," Ethan said, dropping onto the hard mattress of the bed in the room. He sat hunched over, clearly miserable.

"What do you mean?" I asked softly. I wasn't sure he'd want to talk about it. Emily tended to avoid the subject, often plastering on a false smile and insisting that she was okay.

He looked up at me. "It's hard to explain…When I had my power it was like I'd flick on a switch and automatically be able to move faster. As a vampire, I have to work hard to push myself toward it. It's just different, and I don't move nearly as fast as I did."

"Maybe that's just because you're new at this. Once you're being fed blood regularly and you've gotten used to being a vampire I'm sure…" I trailed off because Ethan didn't appear to be really listening to me. His eyes were glazed over, and he was nodding mechanically. I could tell he didn't believe me.

"How about I ask Emily to teach you the ways of being a vampire?" I asked, inspiration striking me. "You two have a lot in common. She'll be able to help you better than anyone."

Ethan's face was still set in a frown. He was obviously determined to be difficult about this, but I had him. He had no reason to have any problem with Emily.

"Fine," he grumbled.

"Good," I said, relieved. "But that still means you have to go to the Carsons' house." He opened his mouth to argue, but I continued before he could speak. "Emily _lives_ there. It's the only way you can see her."

After some more complaining from him, and threats from me, I finally got him to agree to go peacefully. His only other option would be for me to tie him up and drag him there by force, and I was glad that he realized this.

We decided that it would I would talk to everyone first, and find out for sure whether they were serious about keeping him alive, and then I would come back to the motel and bring him there.

When I teleported back into the middle of Anthony's living room, everyone was still there, and their reaction at my entrance was pure shock.

Olivia jumped out of her seat and pushed me. "What the hell? Where have you been?"

Nicole stood up too. "Evelyn, you can't do stuff like that. We were so worried. Where's Ethan? Please don't tell me you left a hungry vampire by himself."

Anthony looked relieved at my return, but he kept his distance, obviously unsure about how to approach me. That was for the better. I didn't even know if I was still mad at him or not, but we still had a lot of things to talk about, and I preferred to have that discussion to be in private.

"Ethan's fine," I said. "Look, were you guys serious before about keeping Ethan alive?"

"How'd you know about that?" Olivia asked suspiciously. "And doesn't Ethan need blood?"

"Hello? I'm the one who can be invisible, remember? I told you Ethan's fine. I gave him some of my blood." I told them about how I'd heard them talking.

Both Nicole and Olivia looked fairly disgusted at the idea of me willingly offering up my blood for a vampire to drink, and I prayed that they didn't say anything about it. I had a feeling Olivia was dying to tell me that I was getting closer and closer to becoming a vampire myself.

"Congratulations, you're getting everything you want," Olivia said. She seemed to want to move the conversation along to something else because she wasn't half as snide as I'd expected her to be about this. "Now bring Ethan over here so we can move on from this problem and tell you about the part of the conversation you weren't smart enough to stick around for."

"What part?"

"We think we have a way to kill Lucas," Nicole said.


	36. Chapter 36

_Hello, I know it's been forever. If I still have any readers left at all, I'd be surprised because it's been so long. I won't bore you all with my reasons for not updating, but I will say that I do have more chapters written and hopefully I'll be able to put them up in the near future. Thank you so much to everyone who reads this story. I'm really glad that you guys enjoy it. Your reviews are always very much appreciated. I hope you guys like chapter 36. Also, Happy Holidays! :D  
_

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"Really?" I was intrigued about what they could have could have come up with since the Administratio was stumped.

"Hurry up and bring Ethan," Olivia told me impatiently.

I hesitated. "You'll be nice to him? All of you? He's in a bad enough mood as it is so if you guys are just going bring him down more…"

"Evelyn, we have bigger problems than your vampire ex-boyfriend's feelings," Olivia said.

"He's not my ex-boyfriend," I protested, making sure to avoid looking at Anthony. I realized I would eventually have to tell him about Ethan almost kissing me, but that was a problem for another time.

"Just go get him, Evelyn," Nicole said.

"Fine, but if anybody does something I don't like, I'm leaving again." The words sounded bratty to my ears. I didn't want to come off as a child throwing a tantrum, but I needed to get my point across. I could never live with myself if Ethan died…again.

I teleported back to the motel to get Ethan. I didn't say anything to him, just grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and brought him back with me to Anthony's house.

When we were both back in the Carsons' living room, no one said anything for a few moments. I hadn't really imagined how this would go, but I should've predicted the awkwardness of it all. I'd just brought Ethan to face a group of people who'd just previously voted to kill him. The tension could be cut with a knife, and one glance at Ethan, standing with his hands in his pockets, avoiding eye contact with everyone, told me that he wanted nothing more than to run out of the house. I was a bit surprised when Emily broke the silence.

"How are you feeling, Ethan?"

I prayed that he wouldn't reply with a snarky comment. It was very important that Emily and Ethan get along. If I could get everyone to see Ethan the same way they saw Emily, they would all be keener on the idea of keeping him alive.

"Fine, I guess, considering the situation," Ethan said.

"Olivia said they might have a way to kill Lucas which is great and all, but I don't see how it solves any of our other problems. The Administratio wants every vampire in this room dead," I told him.

"You're right," Olivia said. "But we're hoping that by killing Lucas with the vamps' help we'll be able to change the Administratio's mind."

"That won't happen!" I protested. It would be stupid to think that they would ever see vampires in any kind of positive light.

"I want to go back to hunting," Emily said suddenly.

By the looks she was receiving from everyone in the room, this was the first time she'd voiced this desire. I wondered if becoming a vampire had done anything to affect her head. She'd have to be let down easy.

"Emily, you're a vampire now…That kind of takes you out of the running to be a vampire _hunter_," I said in my most gentle voice.

She looked me dead in the eye. "Why? I understand vampires' abilities and instincts better now. I can blend in with them better than any hunter. It's unexpected…I think it could work," she said, losing the strength she'd had in her voice when she began her speech.

"I think it could work too," Ethan said, an excited glint in his eye. "Vampires are always looking out for hunters. They'd never expect other vampires to come out and kill them."

Someone needed to rein in their excitement before they got too carried away with idea. I was afraid that it would have to be me, which would be awful because I had no clue how to begin telling them that this plan was just not plausible¸ but thankfully Nicole saved me from crushing their spirits.

"Listen, guys, you can't hunt vampires while the hunters are hunting you. It just won't work," she warned them.

"But the hunters aren't hunting me," Ethan said. "They don't even know I'm alive."

"I can't hide from the hunters forever," Emily said. "My best chance is to face them and let them know I'm on their side. And then, if they trust me, we can tell them about Ethan."

"Emily, I really think you've forgotten what hunters are like after being away from them for so long," I said.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "I've been around you all the time since I was turned, and you've been willing to help me."

"You're forgetting that Evelyn is on the brink of being shunned from the hunting world for being a little too friendly with vampires," Olivia said.

"But what about you?" Emily asked Olivia. "You hate vampires as much as anyone on the Administratio and you're still here helping me."

Olivia opened her mouth to say something. I had a feeling her contrary nature was the reason her mouth opened as if to contradict what Emily had just said. I'm sure it was just an involuntary reaction for her by now, but I suspect she realized that what Emily said was true. She ended up with a very confused look on her face as though she was considering for the first time why she was really here helping. I would have laughed if I wasn't so concerned about what Emily and Ethan were proposing.

"Why don't we kill Lucas first, and then take it from there?" Eric suggested.

"Because once Lucas is dead the Administratio isn't going to have anything distracting them from Emily," I said. "My mom told me my job was to kill you three and Emily. She told me the Administratio would take care of Lucas. I'm all for killing Lucas, but if we don't think this through we're just going to end up with a big mess."

"Kinda like the mess you made when you decided dating a vampire was a good idea. Which brings us back to what I was originally saying about killing Lucas before everyone started talking about ridiculous ideas," Olivia said with a look in Emily's direction.

"Olivia –" Nicole started to chastise her.

"Shh, I can apologize later, this is important. Evelyn is crucial to the whole plan. Like I was saying, we're hoping that we can keep Emily safe by killing Lucas. We're hoping that once he's dead, the Administratio will agree to keep Emily and the Carsons alive."

"That's your master plan?" I asked in disbelief. "The Administratio won't even agree to have a civil conversation with them, much less make a pact. Plus, how exactly do you plan on killing Lucas? In case you hadn't noticed, no one's been able to do that yet."

"We'll have to start with Cheryl," Nicole said.

"Cheryl?" I said in disbelief.

They were all out of their minds. My oldest sister was a hunting prodigy, the epitome of everything a young hunter was supposed to be. She followed the rules perfectly.

"There's no way Cheryl would ever help us with this. We won't even get a chance to explain anything to her. As soon as she hears we've been working with vampires, she'll go running straight to the Administratio."

"Just listen to me for a minute," Olivia said. "We need people on our side if we're going to pull this off without anyone getting hurt. Cheryl doesn't want anything bad to happen to Emily either. We're counting on that. You need to go to the house and convince her that you want to us to work with the vampires to kill Lucas."

"_I_ have to convince her?" I asked in shock. "Why me? I'm the last person who'd be able to convince her that this is a good idea."

"It has to be you because you're the only who Cheryl knows has been friendly with the vampires," Nicole explained.

"Exactly," I said. "Wouldn't she be more likely to believe that the vampires are trustworthy if she heard it from one of you? I don't think there are any hunters who would take me seriously right now. What if I can't convince her?"

"We didn't say we were going to tell Cheryl everything," Olivia said. "She's not going to like any of this. The last thing we want to do is tell her something that makes her go running to the Administratio, like the fact that your best friend over there has changed sides."

"It's not like I asked to be a vampire," Ethan muttered irritably.

"That's beside the point," Olivia said. "The reason we need Cheryl is to have some sort of an element of surprise when we attack Lucas. He'll be expecting the seven of us and possibly Ethan, and he's most likely figured out the way your power works, Evelyn. The more power we have with us, the better. And besides, Cheryl is a damn good hunter."

"So that's big plan? Bring Cheryl into this mess and hope she can help?" I asked. Something seemed off here. They seemed to banking on Cheryl way too much.

"Yes, and after we have Cheryl on our side, the only person we'll need to tip toe around while we're at home will be Mom. And most importantly, Cheryl is great with working with people on their powers. She can help you perfect yours now that we know what you can really do with it."

This was true. Cheryl was very good at teaching focus, aim, and precision. She often helped younger hunters contain their powers, and I remember she was the one who helped me learn how to use my power when I was younger.

"So what should I tell her?" I asked. "You said she shouldn't know everything, right?"

"Don't tell her that Nicole and I are involved," Olivia said. "At least, not at first, that would just freak her out. Tell her the vampires have a way to kill Lucas, and you need her to help make that happen. And make sure that she knows that the vampires aren't anywhere near you while you're telling her. You don't want her to think they're putting you up to this as some sort of plot."

"But what if I can't convince her?" I asked. "Then what?"

"Then you should tell her about me," Nicole said. "But _not_ Olivia. I think she already suspects that you've told me more than you've told everyone else and that I've helped you get out of trouble a few times, but she doesn't know anything about Olivia, so let's keep it that way."

"I still just don't think she's going to be okay with this. Even if I can convince her to listen to me, she's going to want to know what the plan is to kill Lucas, and I'm not even sure what it is."

"I'll be at the house listening. Once you've convinced her to help us, I'll come down to back you up," Nicole said.

"But how is this going to help Emily or Ethan? The Administratio is still going to want them and the Carsons dead!"

I was completely annoyed now. This plan didn't add up to much of anything except maybe one surprise shot at Lucas. It wouldn't fix any of the other problems, and for some reason no one else in the room seemed to understand.

"I agree with Evelyn," Ethan said. "You guys haven't even considered a backup plan. And if I know Cheryl, there's a good chance that she won't want to be a part of this at all."

"I bet you would've said the same thing about me," Olivia said.

"Touché," Ethan said.

"The question that no one is answering," I started, determined to not let my frustration shine through, "Is what we're going to do if I can't convince Cheryl to help?"

"If Cheryl can't help, we're going to need to find something else that Lucas won't be counting on when we attack him," Nicole said.

"Then shouldn't we have a plan B before I risk everything by telling Cheryl?"

Olivia sighed. "Evelyn," she said in a gentle voice that I was very unused to hearing from her, especially when she was talking to me. "There isn't enough time. Lucas was already partially injured while he was here. The time to strike is now. We're already going to be taking time to train you to perfect your power. The longer we wait, the more time Lucas has to recover and regroup.

She put an arm around my shoulders. "We have to take some chances here because we're low on time. The best we can hope for right now is for the Administratio to allow Emily to live if they know she was involved in killing Lucas. I know it doesn't sound like much of a plan to you, but right now that's all we've got."

"And that's why it's so important that we get Cheryl on our side," Nicole said. "She has a lot of leverage when it comes to the Administratio. She might be able to persuade them to go easy on Emily."

Both of my sisters were looking at me sympathetically. Olivia still had her arm around my shoulders. I thought it over. They did have a point. There wasn't much else we could do.

"Evelyn, the most important thing to me right now is making sure Lucas dies," Emily said. "We can worry about my problems after. Let's just take this one step at a time."

"Did you automatically forget that you'd just said you wanted to hunt again?" Ethan asked her. He frowned at the entire room. I would need to talk to him about his moodiness. I wondered why Emily was able to accept being a vampire so much more easily than him – not that she'd taken it easy. Looking back though, she rarely seemed to be angry at her situation.

"No," Emily said. "I still do, but I don't think now is the right time to be discussing that."

"Emily," I said gently, "You can't expect the hunters to just accept that you'll be on their side and let you hunt with them again."

"I'm not trying to cause trouble now, Evelyn. I'm sorry, it was a bad time to bring it up. Please just forget I said anything, and focus on Lucas," she said with a thin smile.

I got the feeling that she wasn't going to drop the idea anytime soon, and with Ethan's excitement with the idea, the two of them would no doubt be plotting how soon they'd be able to rejoin the ranks of the hunters. That she was even considering it as an option made me uneasy. But if she was willing to put off the idea for a while, I would need to take what I could get.

"Now that that's settled, can I talk to you?" I asked Anthony who seemed to be making a point of not looking me in the eye. He had to know that he was in trouble. Voting to kill your girlfriend's best friend was never a good idea.

"No, you can't," Olivia answered. "There are still things to be done. You need to practice what you're going to say to Cheryl when you talk to her."

"Now?"

"What part of we're low on time do you not understand?" Olivia asked. The kind tone she'd just spoken to me with was completely gone.

I wanted to protest, but there really was no reason for us to delay, other than the fact that I was terrified that Cheryl would turn me into the Administratio.

Days passed and I still didn't get a chance to speak to Cheryl. She'd been spending time in California helping a friend hunt down a vampire. I was perfectly happy that this was the case because I was positive that my oldest sister would be impossible to persuade even though everyone else was confident in the plan. Even Ethan, who'd voiced his concerns about it at first, was now trying to convince me that it was a good idea. I didn't know what Emily had been telling him to make him think that bringing Cheryl into this was a good idea, but the two of the sure seemed to be getting along lately.

It was a good thing that Emily was able to get Ethan into her good graces. It made sense since she knew better than anyone what he was going through, but I'd still been surprised when he agreed to move into Anthony's house without much of a fight.

My sisters had done a good job of keeping me away from Anthony and the rest of the Carsons. They were both less than subtle when it came to coming up with ideas to distract me. They made sure we went over what I would say to Cheryl again and again. And when we weren't doing that, they made me perfect using my power.

It was much more difficult than I'd thought it would be to shield so many people while they were moving, along with me. I was getting better, but the progress was slow. At first I practiced with Olivia, but she got fed up with me pretty fast. I would quickly become sick of her screaming and would stop practicing altogether.

After my mom caught us fighting one time, we decided it would be best for me to practice with Nicole from that point on. Not only had my mom been annoyed with the fact that we were fighting, we'd struggled to come with an explanation as to why we'd been together in the first place since it was common knowledge that we tended to avoid each other.

Finally, a night came when Cheryl was home and my mom was out of the house. I was in Nicole's room, stalling. She was sitting at her desk, calmly flipping through a magazine while I was freaking out. It made no sense that I was able to fight all powerful, evil vampires, but I was afraid to face my big sister.

"Are you ready now?" Nicole asked me. I guess her patience with me was up.

"No."

"Too bad," she said. "It's now or never. Just remember what we said. Don't tell her too much in case she decides to go to the Administratio and try not to look so nervous."

"I really, really don't think this is a good idea," I complained one final time. "I'm sure she'll just take me to the Administratio. They're having a meeting tonight. I can't face them all again for the same thing."

"We've been over this, you know what to do. Now go," she said, pushing me out of her room.

Cheryl didn't look too imposing curled up on the sofa in sweats and a t-shirt, holding a bowl of popcorn. I knew, however, that looks could be deceiving. She didn't pay any attention to me as I walked down the stairs. I stood frozen on the third step, about to turn around and run back up, but I knew Nicole would kill me.

"Cheryl, can I talk to you?" I asked hesitantly.

"Sure, what's up?" she asked, sitting up and putting her bowl of popcorn on the table.

Even though I'd practiced this conversation many times - both with Nicole and Olivia and in my head - the words eluded me. I stared down at my hands, suddenly very interested in the hangnail on my right thumb. When I peeked up at her she was looking at me curiously. My obviously nervous body language had her interested.

"You know how Mom has me spending all this time with the vampires? You know, Anthony, and his brothers, and Emily?" I began.

"Yessss," she said, drawing out the word as though she had a bad feeling about where this was going.

"Well, Lucas is the Carsons' uncle, and they're really not too happy with him since he can hypnotize them and stuff. And they want him dead as much as the Administratio does, and they think they know a way to do that, and I was wondering if you would help me help them," I said it all in a rush.

Cheryl was staring at me like I'd lost my mind – just as I'd expected her to. I was going to kill Olivia and Nicole…if Cheryl didn't kill me first.

"Are you crazy?" Cheryl asked me. "Really Evelyn? I would've thought you learned your lesson the first time. We. Don't. Trust. Vampires. Ever!"

"I know that," I said, desperate to keep my calm. "But don't you think Lucas is a special case? He's prepared for hunters to come after him but not vampires. If you just listen, this could work."

"Evelyn, vampires are untrustworthy. You can't expect them to have your back in a fight. How did they convince you that they could help? Did they threaten you? Are they around?" she asked, consumed by paranoia. She stood up, as if expecting a vampire to jump out at her from behind the couch.

"No, they're at their house. Calm down, Cheryl. Listen, I just thought it was an idea that could maybe work, okay? You don't need to freak out."

"Why are you asking me for help?" she asked, arms crossed.

"What?" I asked in a small voice.

"You don't usually come to me with these problems. Why start now? Evelyn, you know you're supposed to be killing these vampires, not planning to work with them. You need to take this job Mom gave you seriously. If you don't I'll have to tell the Administratio," she said, sounding more and more like my mother with each passing second.

I held my hands up in defeat. I would have been more disappointed with the way this conversation had gone, if I hadn't called it from the very beginning. Before I could calm Cheryl down, however, Olivia teleported into the middle of the living room between Cheryl and me. We both gasped in unison.

The rubber band that had been holding Olivia's hair in a ponytail had been pulled back so that long strands of blonde hair fell out all around her face. The knees of her jeans were brown with dirt and the right strap of her tank top was torn, leaving her shoulder bare. Her right arm was covered in small cuts, but the worst damage seemed to be the dark purple bruise on her left forearm.

Her appearance was normal though. I had come home looking worse on more than one occasion. What surprised me was that she'd brought two vampires with her – Emily on her left and Anthony on her right. This was not part of the plan.


	37. Chapter 37

_Hey everyone! Look I've updated within two weeks! I can't remember the last time that happened. I know it's kinda late for me to be saying this, but happy new year everyone! One of my resolutions for the new year is to have this story finished and posted this year. It's taken me too long to write as it is. I'm expecting this story to have 44 or 45 chapters depending on how well I stick to my outline. Also, I've already written chapters 38-40 and I'm in the middle of writing chapter 41 so hopefully I'll be done soon so I can get these chapters out to you guys. As always, thank you all for reading and reviewing my stories. I think chapter 37 is one of my longest chapters. I hope you all enjoy it! :)_

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The plan was this: I was supposed to convince Cheryl to help us kill Lucas, and then Nicole would come down and help me explain what we'd learned about my power and how we could use it to fight him. At no point did we ever discuss Olivia capturing Anthony and Emily and bringing them to the house.

"What are you doing?" Cheryl asked Olivia. I wanted to know the same thing, and it was good that Cheryl asked because I was too stunned to speak.

"I found them outside, near the house," Olivia said.

"What?" I asked, finally finding my voice. There was no way Anthony or Emily would come anywhere near my house.

"She's lying, Evelyn. We were at the house. She came out of nowhere and got us," Emily said. Her big, green eyes were pleading with me.

I was so confused. None of this made sense. I looked at Olivia, waiting to hear what she had to say about this. She didn't explain anything. She just stared back at me, her lips curled into an arrogant smirk. Then it hit me.

"You lied to me!" I screamed.

I looked back at Anthony and Emily. Their hands were shackled together in special cuffs that hunters sometimes used that limited vampires' powers. The cuffs were coated in a special mix the hunters put together – the primary ingredient of which was garlic – that made them so white, they almost glowed.

I waited for Anthony to look up at me. I wanted to see some sign of what he was thinking, but he seemed determined to look at everything but me.

I wanted to make sure that they were both okay. Anthony had a gash along the left side of his face and his bottom lip was busted. His gray shirt had a rip in it near his heart that was soaked in blood. I could tell he'd been slashed at with a knife. Poor Emily was wearing a tank top and shorts. She had small cuts all over her arms and legs. There was also dried blood around her nose and her red hair was all over the place

They were vampires, their wounds would heal, and supposing they survived the night, they'd both be as good as new in no time. They were weakened though, and they both looked like they needed to lie down. Obviously there'd been a struggle. Something was off here. Anthony was a strong vampire, and Emily had been a hunter before she'd been turned into a vampire. It wasn't like they didn't know how to fight. Olivia was good, but she wasn't good enough to take them both by herself. Of course, they'd both thought that Olivia was on their side. She must have seriously caught them off guard.

"Anthony, what -" I started to say.

"Don't talk to them, Evelyn," Cheryl cut me off.

Cheryl's whole body was frozen. Her eyes were trained on Emily. I realized this was the first time she was seeing Emily post vampire transformation. I think she was in some state of shock.

"What's going on down here?" Nicole asked coming downstairs.

I pointed at Olivia, unable to form coherent sentences through my rage. Nicole took one look at Anthony and Emily, and her eyes shot up at Olivia.

"I'm confused," she said.

I personally thought she appeared remarkably calm considering the situation. For one entirely irrational second, I wanted to yell at her for not being as upset as I was, but somehow I managed to reign in my anger. Nicole's ability to keep calm was the last thing I should've been getting angry about.

"This might surprise you, Nicole, but it seems that Evelyn has been working with the vampires all this time. Apparently, she cares more about helping them than she does about being a hunter," Olivia said in a sickly sweet voice.

I wasn't entirely sure what kind of game Olivia was playing, but it seemed that she didn't want to out Nicole, just me. That was fine, I was all for Nicole staying out of trouble, but I didn't get why Olivia would go to so much trouble to do this to me.

Nicole narrowed her eyes at Olivia. "But why do you have them with you?" she asked, pointing at Anthony and Emily.

"Because I sensed them near the house, and I for one, cannot sleep when I know that vampires are near. I don't know what they were planning, but I was hoping Evelyn might be able to get it out of them," Olivia said with a big grin directed toward me.

"Evelyn, you told me there weren't any vampires near here," Cheryl said sternly. She seemed to have recovered from her previously frozen state.

"They _weren't_ near here," I said. "They were at their house. Olivia had to have gone there and taken them by surprise."

"And how exactly would Olivia know where they lived and be able to sneak up on a house full of vampires?" Cheryl asked.

"She lied to me," I said. "She told me she wanted to help Emily, and she got me to bring her to their house. They trusted her, that's how she got in."

"Evelyn, stop lying," Olivia said. "She told me the other day that she wanted to work with the vampires to kill Lucas. Can you believe it? She's completely lost her mind."

"She told you that too?" Cheryl asked.

"Oh my god! I can't believe she told you the same thing she told me! I guess she was planning on going around with the same lie once she thought it worked with me," Olivia said.

Despite the fact that I'd known all along that this Cheryl thing would turn out bad, never in a million years did I dream that it would blow up in my face this way. I should've been suspicious the moment Olivia started being nice to me.

"Cheryl, you have to believe me," Emily begged. "I would never do something to hurt you guys."

Cheryl ignored her, instead turning her attention to me.

"Do you see why we don't trust vampires, Evelyn? They lied to you. You should've learned your lesson."

"What I don't understand," Nicole said. "Is why you didn't kill the vampires, Olivia?"

My head snapped back to Olivia. That was a good question, unless, of course, her motives were purely to make this as devastating as possible for me.

"That's Evelyn's job isn't it?" Olivia answered. "And I was going to, but the vamp actually did say he knew how to kill Lucas. I figured maybe Evelyn wasn't completely lying."

"That doesn't make any sense! First you say you're sure that I'm lying, and now you're saying I probably wasn't. And why bother listening at all if they're all so evil?" I asked. I was panting at this point, so angry that I was out of breath, barely able to get my words out.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "We can kill them both right now. It wouldn't matter to me. Would you like to do the honors?"

She held a knife out to me. I wanted to take it and hack up her face, but I had a feeling that wouldn't go over well with the Administratio when Cheryl listed my transgressions to them.

"We'll take any information we can get about Lucas," Cheryl said and stared Anthony down. "But it won't save your life."

Anthony looked back at her dispassionately. I was surprised he bothered to look up at all. The entire time he'd kept his eyes on the ground. It was like he didn't even notice that his life was in immediate danger.

Olivia had shoved both him and Emily onto their knees. They were both fidgeting with the shackles on their wrists. I wanted to get Anthony to look at me. I wanted answers, and I wanted them from him. How did Olivia manage to get both him and Emily? Where had Eric, Mark, and Ethan been? Why wasn't he looking at me?

"We should take them all to face the Administratio," Olivia said.

"What? No, there's no reason for Anthony and Emily to go," I protested.

"You're right," Cheryl said.

I looked at her, shocked. I'd expected Nicole to be the one to back me up.

"It only takes one person to deliver information."

Before I could scream, pull my hair out, or cry in frustration, Anthony spoke up.

"If you kill one of us, you won't get anything."

"Is that right?" Cheryl asked. "Emily? Do you feel the same way?"

Emily looked up at her, tears running down her face. She opened her mouth to say something but no sound came out. She hiccupped and gave up on speech altogether. She nodded and then returned her attention to the ground.

"I see you've chosen your side," Cheryl said.

"That's because being on your side means she has to die," I shouted at Cheryl. "At least the vampires are helping her stay alive. If those were my only two options, I'd pick the vampires too."

"Evelyn, shut up," Nicole said through gritted teeth.

Olivia snorted. "Trust me, Evy. _Everyone_ knows whose side you're on."

"Fine," Cheryl said. "I'll take you both to see the Administratio. You're only delaying both of your deaths."

"Nicole, you hold on to Emily," Cheryl said. She came to me and held on to my arm. "You stay with me."

The meeting the Administratio was holding that night was at Andrew's house – the same place my trial had been. We all arrived outside the room where the meeting was taking place.

"Stay here with the vampires," Cheryl ordered Nicole and Olivia. "I'm going in to explain what's going on. Come on, Evelyn."

I groaned and followed behind her. This whole night wasn't adding up. I shouldn't have been so surprised that Olivia would sell me out like this, but there really was no reason for her to go to so much trouble to do it. I'd never done anything awful to her…recently.

The entire Administratio – Andrew, Patrick, Sandra, Eileen, Kyle, Mary, Darren, Rick, Priya, and my mother – were sitting around a meeting table when we entered the room. Having sensed the presence of the two vampires outside, they simultaneously tensed, ready to attack.

"Cheryl, Evelyn? What's going on?" My mother asked when we entered the room.

"Evelyn put her trust in the vampires she was supposed to be killing, and they betrayed her. We brought two of them here because they claim to have information that would help kill Lucas. I suspect they're just trying to delay their deaths, but I felt it would be best to have you all speak to them first," Cheryl said.

"Who's with them now?" Mom asked.

"Olivia and Nicole."

"I don't understand what's going on here. Explain it from the beginning, please," Andrew requested.

I barely listened as Cheryl recounted the night's events. What struck me odd at the moment was that I wasn't as frightened as I should be. The Administratio could very well vote for my death within the hour, but for whatever reason, I didn't think that was about to happen. Maybe I'd avoided getting in trouble so much recently that the old fear I'd had of the Administratio had completely worn off.

I'd never known Olivia to be that good of a liar, and why was she so determined to sell me out but keep Nicole safe? Sure, we didn't get along, but that was in sibling rivalry kind of way. And I was absolutely confident that there was no way Olivia was able to defeat Anthony in a fair fight, Emily maybe, but not Anthony. He was powerful; after all, Lucas had been the one to change him.

The possibility that I wasn't considering here was that Anthony and Emily were lying. But that couldn't be it. The satisfied, cocky look on Olivia's face meant that she'd been pleased that she'd managed to trick everyone.

The more I thought about it, the more it just didn't add up. Olivia had to have attacked Anthony and Emily at the Carsons' house, so where had Eric and Mark been? And she didn't even kill them. She captured them, but that meant she'd gone there with the intention of capturing, not killing. The shackles Olivia had put on them were not typically carried around by most hunters. Vampires weren't supposed to be captured and imprisoned. There were very few instances where hunters solved a vampire problem by any means other than their immediate death.

"Bring in the vampires," my mom said after Cheryl finished her story. "I want to hear this useful information they have about Lucas. Evelyn, sit down. You're not to speak to them when they enter."

I obeyed and strained my ears to listen to what was going on outside the door. The four of them had definitely been whispering, but they were speaking much too softly for me to hear. I would have given all the money I had to hear that conversation. Hopefully there would be a chance for me to find out later.

There was an obvious change in the body language of the Administratio when Anthony and Emily entered the room. I wondered what was going through my mother's head as she gave Anthony a death stare as he came closer to the center of the room. He had been the one who persuaded Lucas to let her free when he'd had her captured. I was sad that she couldn't muster up any kind of gratefulness to him for saving her life.

"Emily Mern, you are aware that you have betrayed the hunters by living as a vampire?" Andrew asked her.

Emily didn't look at any of them. She just nodded and looked down at the ground. I wanted to say something in her defense, but my mother caught my eye, and the chilling look she gave me made me forget whatever words had been at the tip of my tongue.

There was an awkward silence in the room. No one seemed sure how best to proceed. This was probably the first time in history that vampires were allowed a hearing with the Administratio.

"I want to know why you two were near my house this evening," my mother said.

"We weren't," Anthony said. "Your daughter took us by surprise at my house."

"Liar," Olivia snarled.

"Do you expect me to take your word over my daughter's, vampire?"

"Of course not," Anthony said. "But that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I was not near your home. I don't have a death wish."

"So," Rick said to prevent another awkward silence, "I'm interested to hear this amazing information that will allow us to defeat Lucas."

Anthony raised an eyebrow. "You think I'm just going to give it up to you for free?"

"You're not in much of a position to make any deals, Vampire," Eileen said. She shot a dirty look at me. No doubt she and her dear sister Caroline still blamed me for Ethan's death.

"What exactly will you do if I don't tell you anything? Kill me?" Anthony asked. He spoke with a lazy sort of tone, similar to the teasing lilt he'd often used before we started dating, back when I didn't trust him.

"Yes, that's exactly what we're going to do," Kyle said.

"But you're going to kill me if I give you information as well, correct?"

"This is a waste of time," Eileen said. "He obviously doesn't have anything useful to tell us. He's just biding time to stay alive longer."

"Wouldn't you do the same if you were in my position?" Anthony asked her.

The way Eileen's face twisted in disgust was comical. I suspected that she didn't very much like being talked to by a vampire in such a casual way, as if they were equals.

"Do you or do you not have something useful to tell us?" my mother asked.

"Yes, I believe I do, ma'am," Anthony answered. While I was pleased that he spoke more respectfully to my mother, I knew no amount of politeness would ever bring him into her good graces.

At this point, I was beyond confused by the night's events. Anthony was completely at ease as he spoke to the ten hunters who were staring back him with murder clearly in their eyes. I wanted to get him alone so that he could explain to me what the hell was going on, and even more than that, I wanted to get Olivia alone so that I could punch her.

When Anthony made no move to elaborate his answer to my mother's question, I saw Sandra shift her attention to Emily. With a considerable amount of effort, she pulled her face into something that resembled a reassuring smile.

"Emily," she started, "Do you know what this information is that your friend here has for us?"

Emily nodded again, still not saying anything.

"Will you tell us?"

Emily took a deep breath and looked Sandra straight in the eye. "No."

"I see you've completely turned against us then," Sandra said with a frown.

"You want to kill her," I said. I hadn't meant to say anything, but my mouth didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation because I kept rambling. "The only choice she has is to be against you. It's that or death. She'd have to be a complete idiot to side with you people."

"If that's how you feel, Evelyn, then perhaps you should join the vampires in their death as well. Maybe that would be better than having to stay with _us people_," Sandra said.

"Enough!" my mother said. "Evelyn, be quiet. You're not helping your situation." She turned to the vampires. "Tell us what you came here to tell us. My patience is running low."

"My brothers and I can kill Lucas. He's expecting hunters. He's prepared for all of you. He won't expect my brothers and me to attack him," Anthony said.

"Lucas is your uncle, correct? You're saying that you're willing to kill him out of the kindness of your heart?" my mother asked skeptically.

Anthony gave her a small smile. "Not exactly, we're willing to kill him in return for immunity from the hunters. After we kill him, you won't hear from us again. It's a win-win situation."

"We don't win when vampires stay alive," Eileen said.

"Why is it that you're willing to kill your own kin?" Andrew asked.

"He's a vampire. They don't know anything about loyalty," Sandra said. "This is exactly why we shouldn't trust him."

Anthony ignored her and answered Andrew's question. "My uncle is not our ally. He can hypnotize my brothers and me. We want to live without being pursued by the hunters. I promise, we mean you all no harm. However, if you kill Emily and me today, my brothers will not be happy."

"Are you threatening us?" Patrick asked.

"No, just stating facts."

"How exactly do you plan on killing Lucas?" Priya asked.

"You don't expect me to give away all of my secrets, do you?"

"If we are going to consider this, we need substantial information," my mother said.

"We cannot consider this. We cannot trust a vampire. This vampire, need I remind you all, is responsible for the death of my nephew," Eileen said, glaring at Anthony.

"I was under Lucas's influence," Anthony tried to explain calmly, but Eileen's expression didn't change. "And perhaps now is a good time to tell you that Ethan wasn't killed. He was turned into a vampire by my uncle."

There was a collective gasp in the room from everyone, myself included. Of course, I wasn't surprised that Ethan was a vampire. My shock was due to the fact that Anthony was telling everyone. I don't what about this situation gave him the indication that _now_ was a good time to tell the Administratio that _another_ hunter had been turned into a vampire, but after all the unexpectedness of the night's events, him telling everyone about Ethan was nowhere near my biggest concern.

"We buried Ethan," Eileen said.

"The body you buried was a clone," Emily explained. "We've discovered that when a vampire changes a hunter, the vampire acquires that hunter's power. Juana changed me, so she had my ability to clone."

"Caroline needs to know this information," Eileen said.

"We will be able to kill Lucas because we have a secret weapon that will strengthen our defenses against him," Anthony said as though he were unaware of the surprised uneasiness felt by everyone in the room. "Ethan is safe. He is with us. When I ask for immunity from you all, I'm asking for his safety as well."

Secret weapon? No one told me about any secret weapon. I looked at my sisters – all of whom had their eyes trained on the Administatio – for some sort of reaction to this piece of information. Did Olivia and Nicole know about this? Did they plan something without me knowing? Why wouldn't they tell me?

"And how would we know that you truly killed him? We'd need some proof," Andrew said.

"One of you could come to see with your own eyes," Anthony suggested. "I wouldn't be able to guarantee your safety there though."

"More threats?" Patrick asked.

"More facts," Anthony corrected.

"I'll go," Nicole offered.

The entire room turned their attention to her. I wasn't necessarily surprised that she was trusting Anthony's word. I _was_ surprised that she was showing her faith in him in front of the Administratio. I knew first hand that that was as close to a death sentence as you could get.

"Lucas will make more of an effort to attack a member of the Administratio, right? If I went with the vampires to make sure that they kill him, I'd be less of a target for Lucas. And if he did attack me, I could heal myself," she said.

My mother pursed her lips at the idea. "It's so dangerous."

"I could go with her," Olivia said. "We can take care of each other. We'd be out of firing range for the most part since the vampires will be taking care of Lucas. We'll keep a good distance to watch."

What the hell? Now Olivia was on board with what Anthony wanted to do?

"Why don't you send all of you daughters off with the vampires, Ava?" Eileen asked. "It might be a good idea for Evelyn to face Lucas. She'll be able to see where her vampire friend here comes from."

"She's faced Lucas before," my mother said. "And she did pretty well up against him."

I thought there was some pride in her voice, but I could have just been imagining it.

"I'd go with them," Cheryl offered.

"It's probably not the best idea for too many hunters to come with us," Anthony cautioned. "I understand you want to keep your people safe, but more than two hunters would just get in our way."

I was instantly suspicious. This was the first time in the whole conversation that Anthony dropped his relaxed attitude. He spoke firmly, clearly as a response to Cheryl's offer, which meant that he didn't want her involved. The realization hit a nerve with me. He'd been very clear that he fully supported the plan for me to make sure that Cheryl _was_ involved.

"Shouldn't we decide Evelyn's fate before we come to a decision about this?" Kyle asked.

"Yes, she needs to be punished," Eileen said.

"Technically, what has she done wrong?" Rick asked.

"This is the second time she's proven her allegiance to vampires," Sandra said. "We gave her a chance the first time to redeem herself, and she threw it back in our faces."

"That's not true!" I said. "I've been doing what I was supposed to. If Olivia hadn't gotten involved, none of this would be happening."

"You came to me, Evelyn," Olivia said.

"You. Are. Such. A. Liar!" I screeched.

"Evelyn, calm down," my mother ordered. "Is it true that you were trying to convince Cheryl to trust the vampires this evening?"

"Yes," I mumbled.

"And you believe that these vampires were at their house this evening, correct?"

"Yes."

"So you believe the word of a vampire over your own sister?"

"It's not the first time Olivia's lied to me," I said, hating the whiny tone to my voice. I sounded like a bratty little sister.

"This relationship Evelyn has with the vampires is dangerous," Eileen said. "It resulted in the death of one of our own. We can no longer afford to be lenient."

"Ethan was hunting and got captured," Rick said. "Evelyn didn't personally hand him over to Lucas."

"You think she isn't at fault here?" Patrick asked.

"I didn't say that," Rick said. "She's made bad decisions. I think keeping her away from these vampires would solve the problem. She's a good hunter, and she's young."

"No, she's a reckless hunter," Patrick said. "I think she deserves to lose her powers."

"I agree," Sandra said.

"We still have not defined exactly what she's done wrong," Priya said. "We shouldn't be hasty to penalize her.

"She's committed serious crimes. Capital punishment should be considered," Sandra said.

The fear that had been absent from me previously, washed over my body. It was like someone had thrown ice cold water on me. I looked to my mother in the hopes that she wouldn't allow them to do that to me.

"She's barely more than a child," my mother said.

Listening to their debate was hurting my head. I didn't want to hear them all go back and forth about how seriously I should be punished. I rubbed my temples, wishing that this would just be over.

I was so busy trying to push tune everyone's talking out, I didn't notice Cheryl studying me carefully.

"Evelyn isn't feeling well," she said. "Should I take her back home until you all decide what to do?"

"We shouldn't let her out of our sight," Eileen said.

"This isn't a trial," Priya said. "There's no need for her to stay."

"So, what do you want to do then?" Olivia asked. "Imprison her?"

My head whipped to the left to look at Olivia, headache completely forgotten. Of course she would put that idea into their heads.

There was a general murmur of agreement from the Administratio. It seemed they liked Olivia's suggestion.

"That isn't a bad idea," my mother said slowly.

"She should be imprisoned," Andrew said. "She'll be without her powers and away from the vampires. It will give her time to think and see why what she did was wrong."

Imprisonment was rare for hunters. We just didn't have many traitors. There weren't very many cases in our history for me to draw on. I don't believe we'd had a hunter with as many strikes against them as I had in at least the last five decades.

My heart hammered in my chest. Somehow things were working out but at the same time _not _working out. The Administratio seemed close to agreeing to Anthony's proposal. He would be safe and so would Emily. It was what I'd wanted the whole time. Yet, somehow, I was in the worst trouble I'd been in my whole life. My fight or flight instincts kicked in, and for a second I seriously considered teleporting out of there.

I opened my mouth to speak, but there was no sound. My mouth had never been so dry. I was sure I was seconds away from a panic attack. How could this be happening? And none of my sisters thought to say anything in my defense.

"There will need to be a trial," Andrew said. "We will need to review Evelyn's indiscretions to decide on the duration of her imprisonment."

"W-when?" I choked out.

"She should be imprisoned immediately," Patrick said. "We need to ensure that she's kept away from the vampires."

I hated that no one was speaking directly to me. My sisters held onto their stone cold gazes. My mother was more concerned with what the Administratio was saying than anything I was doing. And Anthony still wouldn't even glance in my direction. It was like I didn't exist.

"Cheryl, escort Evelyn upstairs," my mother ordered. "Olivia, Nicole, take the vampires outside. We need to speak."

Cheryl took my arm and teleported with me to the second floor of Andrew's house. She brought us to his library. It was a fairly small room, books almost overflowing within it. The shelves had been stuffed with more books than they were meant to hold, and there were stacks of books on the floor and the two tables that were in the room.

Cheryl didn't say anything to me. She just sat down on the brown leather couch. It appeared that she was perfectly content to sit serenely in silence.

"I need to get out of here," I said.

"Don't even think about it," she warned. "You brought this on yourself, Evelyn. I'm sorry, I really am, but you need to stay here and face the consequences."

I felt the rage build up in me, and I was about to scream at her. I hated her at that moment. Watching her sit there, problem free, with a clear conscience, so sure that everything she was doing was right, made me want nothing more than to slap her.

Why was I such a freak? Why was I the one who was attracted to vampires? Why did Emily's problems only bother me? The second the other hunters found out she was a vampire, they saw her as a monster. Why wasn't I the same?

I wanted to demand the answers to those questions from Cheryl. I wanted her to feel bad about not caring about Emily who'd been her friend. She should feel guilty about seeing her youngest sister be punished this way, but for once my brain turned off the impulsive switch that made me say reckless things.

The odd events that occurred tonight were still tugging at something in my brain. Olivia had betrayed me, but somehow Anthony ended up able to make his case. It had been a stroke of good luck for him that he managed to get an audience with the Administratio. Trying to make sense of what happened tonight was giving me a headache.

After what felt like hours, my mother called Cheryl, and we headed back to face the Administratio. I was certain with the way my heart was pounding that it would break through my chest. Anthony, Emily, Nicole, and Olivia were there when Cheryl and I entered the room. I stared them down, hoping one of them would look at me, but none of them spared me a glance. In that moment, I felt more alone than I'd ever felt in my life.

"We've come to the decision," Andrew began speaking to Anthony, "To agree to your proposal _if _we can go to your house immediately to speak to your brothers and Ethan. We need to verify your sincerity."

I understood why the Administratio would want to go to Anthony's house now. Going now meant that they'd be able to meet the other Carsons without them having time to plan a trap.

"That's fine with me," Anthony said.

"Olivia and Nicole, are you both sure you're willing to see that the vampires carry out this plan of theirs?" Rick asked.

My sisters both nodded.

"Then you may, but we have precautions that you must follow," Andrew continued. "This is a very important job that we're entrusting to you, and we expect you to keep this to yourselves. The rest of the hunting community doesn't need to find out about this just yet. Understood?"

"Yes," my sisters said in unison.

"As for you, Evelyn," Andrew said, "You will be imprisoned immediately. Your trial will be in two weeks."

"Immediately?" I asked weakly. I looked to my mom for some kind of support.

Her blank expression didn't change. "We're making sure there's no chance of you seeing these vampires again.

"And understand, vampire," she said to Anthony, "That any chance of safety you have from us will be gone if you come anywhere near my daughter ever again."

"Yes ma'am," he said clearly, calmly. Wasn't he even a little upset about the idea of never seeing me again?

"I'll take Evelyn downstairs, and then we'll leave," Andrew said, standing up.

The room was completely silent as I followed Andrew to his basement. I'd only been down there once before in my life. I'd been eight and I didn't remember why I'd even gone down there in the first place. I hadn't been scared at all that time though because I'd been with my dad. Now, however, I was more terrified than I'd ever been in my entire life.

Andrew held open the door and ushered me into the room. The steps leading down into the basement were old and they creaked. Andrew flicked on the light switch. The only source of light for the entire room came from the two light bulbs. No one could teleport in or out of there. I don't know how the Administratio was able to make that happen. It was a secret they never shared.

The basement had a cold, unfriendly feel to it. There was a certain empty, eeriness that was only possible from what had to be years of being uninhabited. There were cobwebs everywhere and everything in the room was caked with layer of dust. The room was made up of six cells, each one small in size, with nothing in them except for a single cot.

I'd never regretted everything that had happened since I'd met Anthony more than the moment Andrew opened the iron door to the middle cell on the left side of the room. For a split second, I considered dropping to my knees and begging. I was prepared to promise to never see Anthony again and mean it. I would be the most rule cautious, punishment fearing hunter in the world. But that feeling didn't last. I wouldn't be able to keep that promise if my life depended on it.

I entered the cell - resenting the entire world for being so unfair - as Andrew shut the door and locked it.

"Don't bother trying to break out of here," he warned. "Nothing can get you out except for this key. We agreed that we should temporarily strip you of your powers, but I seem to be out of that particular tonic. I should have some for you when I get back. I hope you won't be difficult."

I looked at him through the bars of my jail cell, wanting to assure him that yes, I would be very difficult. I wanted to tell him that he was going to be _so_ miserable the entire time I was in his house, but I decided against it at the last second. I could be in his house for a very long time. I needed to be on good terms with him.

"I won't cause trouble," I said quietly.

Andrew nodded in approval and walked out of the room. I was grateful that he'd left the lights on. I was sure I'd go insane if I had to sit here in the dark. I realized that I couldn't sense anything while I was in here. It was like there was a wall blocking that extra sense hunters had that alerted them to vampires. The second I walked into the basement, I couldn't sense Anthony and Emily in the house at all. It would be awful to be stuck here with a vampire.

Even though Andrew had warned me that I couldn't break escape, I couldn't help trying anyway. I tried teleporting first. Initially, it seemed to work. That fluttery feeling that surrounded me when I teleported was there, but before my body could completely disappear, it just stopped.

I tried using my power next. Before practicing with Nicole and Olivia, I'd been able to move through solid objects while I was invisible. Now, after they'd pushed me so much, I was able to do it while I was visible as well. I tried walking straight through the cell, but that proved to be a bad idea because it was like walking into a wall.

My only option left was trying to examine the lock in the hopes that I'd be able to find something that I could use to pick it or break it. I removed the layer of dust coating the metal bars and pushed my hands through them. The bars were only just wide enough for me to stick my arms through. I fiddled with the lock and pressed my face up against the bars to try and see the lock better. About a minute passed of me trying to get a good look at the lock, when the iron from the bars and the lock started to feel significantly hotter. I screamed when suddenly the metal felt like it was on fire and rushed to extract my arms away from the bars.

Feeling defeated, I dropped myself onto the tiny cot to wallow in misery. I wondered what was happening at Anthony's house right now and what Olivia and Nicole were doing.

Olivia's actions still made little sense to me. If she was going to do this, why did she go to the trouble of training with me to perfect my power? From what I remembered, our plans involved me shielding everyone from Lucas's senses when we attacked him. But after what had happened tonight, those plans were clearly no longer relevant. What weapon had Anthony been talking about? Was he just bluffing to get the Administratio to trust him?

Andrew would be back soon, and he would be prepared to bind my power. It had been sheer luck that he didn't have anything to bind my powers immediately. If I lost my powers, there would be no way I could help kill Lucas even if I did manage to break out of here.

I would need to find a way to trick Andrew. He would probably stand there and watch me to make sure I drank the entire draft. I wondered if there would be a way to fool him.

I heard the door open. Someone was coming down the stairs. I couldn't see from where I was, but it was probably Andrew. I would have to think on my feet when he handed me the drink that would bind my powers.

I stood up ready to "accidentally" drop whatever drink Andrew gave to me, but it wasn't Andrew standing in front of me. There, outside of my jail cell, smiling triumphantly was Olivia.


End file.
